Thousands of angry Egyptian university students held demonstrations Monday across the country in protest against Israel’s decision to include two mosques in the West Bank into a list of its national heritage sites and the entry of Israeli police into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa in danger: Egyptian lawyers protesting against the Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque outside the Bar Association in downtown Cairo Monday. Tight security measures barred photographers from taking photos of protests at Cairo University.
The students at Cairo, Minya, Fayoum, Beni Sueif and Zagazig universities were joined by professors and other employees to call on Arabs and Muslims everywhere to protest against Israel’s acts.
They raised banners that called on Arab leaders to confront the Israeli violations.
One banner read: "Our Arab leaders, stop this passivity". Another read: "Use guns instead of words of condemnation ".
Students at Cairo University, the nation’s biggest public university, used microphones to let passersby hear their voices when the police cordoned them off and stopped them getting out of the campus.
Israeli occupation authorities ordered the demolition of Salman al-Farisi Mosque, which is under construction in Burin, a village in the West Bank, on the grounds of lacking proper building permits by the Israeli Construction and Structure Department.
"Israel understands nothing but the language of power. We have to stop the Zionists from stealing Arab lands by force," said one student whose forehead was bleeding.
He alleged that a policeman hit him while he was trying to get through the gate with his colleagues.
In Minya, Zagazig and Fayoum, hundreds of students joined the Al-Aqsa protests, shouting: “We'll sacrifice our blood to restore Al Aqsa”.
In Beni Sueif University in Upper Egypt, Mohamed Badei, the Supreme Guide of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, whose member students were organising the demonstration, talked to the students on a microphone.
"All professors, students and ordinary people should join these protests in order to pressure Israel to stop its measures against Al-Aqsa," Badei said.
The police closed the gate of the university, but they did not clash with the students, who were joined by the president of Beni Sueif University, according to witnesses. Al Aqsa is Islam’s third holiest site.
Meanwhile, a controversial match between the Egyptian and Palestinian national football teams in occupied East Jerusalem was postponed indefinitely Monday after its announcement sparked outrage in Egypt.
The match was meant by organisers to mark Palestinian Land Day on March 30.
According to most Egyptians, almost 31 years after a peace treaty was signed between Egypt and Israel, having normal ties between the two countries is still a potent accusation and Israel is largely considered an enemy state.
A call on Muslims to visit occupied Jerusalem last year by Hamdi Zaqzouq, Egypt’s Religious Endowments Minister, caused an uproar, and was rejected by the Sheikh of Al-Azhar and the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the country’s top Muslim and Christian clerics.
