Egyptian students stage anti-US protests
2002-03-14 09:34
Alexandria - More than 15 000 Egyptian university students staged anti-US and Israeli protests on Wednesday hours before US Vice President
Dick Cheney met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
In the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria, some 8 000
students burned US and Israeli flags while protesting fierce
Israeli military offensives launched recently on Palestinian towns
and refugee camps.
The Alexandria University students also shouted slogans
denouncing Israel, Cheney and the United States and burned effigies
of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W
Bush.
"America favours Israel" said one of the slogans, reflecting the
commonly held sentiment felt throughout the Arab world that the
United States favours Israel against the Palestinians.
More than 7 000 students staged similar protests inside other
Egyptian universities, including Cairo's Al-Azhar University.
Cheney is on an 11-nation tour of the Mid-East, Iran and Turkey
trying to gauge the level of regional support for any US attempt
to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Egyptian university students - enraged by continuing
Palestinian-Israeli violence - have been staging protests at
several campuses across the country in recent weeks.
Security has been tight in a country where the government has
little tolerance for free expression, and the protests are usually
confined to campuses. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA