CAIRO, 9 February 2005 — Hundreds of Egyptians staged demonstrations yesterday in protest at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to their country for a peace summit, with protesters burning Israeli flags.
“The blood of martyrs will not be shed in vain,” chanted some 1,000 protesters at Cairo University, not far from the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, as they set fire to the Star of David.
Black-clad security forces and baton-wielding riot police ensured the demonstration, led by Islamist students, remained on campus.
Sharon attended a landmark summit at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh with Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdallah, at the invitation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Abbas and Sharon called an end to the four-year conflict between their peoples at the summit, a meeting that the students said forced Arabs into “a culture of surrender.”
The protesters at Cairo University called on Egypt’s attorney general to issue an arrest warrant for Sharon, charging he was a “war criminal” with Arab blood on his hands. “Enough, enough,” they chanted.
He should “order Sharon’s arrest on charges of murdering Egyptian soldiers and refer him to court,” the protesters demanded.
They also denounced increased diplomatic and economic contacts between Egypt and the Zionist state. A protest involving scores of journalists was also held at the union’s headquarters in downtown Cairo, including a two-hour sit-in. “Get out Sharon,” they cried, waving anti-Sharon placards.
On Monday, thousands of students at Zagazig University in the Delta region and Alexandria University on the Mediterranean coast took part in similar demonstrations.
