EGYPT: RELIGIOUS STUDENTS RIOT OVER BOOK SAID TO DEFAME ISLAM.

Record ID: 862350

  • Title: EGYPT: RELIGIOUS STUDENTS RIOT OVER BOOK SAID TO DEFAME ISLAM.
  • Date: 8th May 2000
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (MAY 8, 2000) (REUTERS) GV: STUDENTS BY UNIVERSITY, RIOT POLICE STANDING SV/MV/CU: VARIOUS OF FEMALE STUDENTS CHANTING (5 SHOTS) GV: POLICE RIOT VEHICLE DRAWING UP/ RIOT POLICE ON STREET LV/GV: STUDENTS WALKING AND CHANTING/ FOLLOWED BY RIOT POLICE (4 SHOTS) SV: POLICEMAN FIRING TEAR GAS GV: TEAR GAS GOING OFF/ PROTESTERS SCREAMING AND RUNNING OFF ALONG STATION PLATFORM GV/PAN: PROTESTERS RUNNING OVER RAILWAY TRACK GV/PAN: PROTESTERS AGAINST WALL/ BEING DRAGGED TO MILITARY VEHICLE GV: RIOT POLICE ON STREET/ AUDIO OF SIRENS LV: WIDE OF MILITARY VEHICLE BLOCKING STREET/ DEBRIS ON GROUND GV/PAN: AMBULANCE MOVING DOWN STREET
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
  • City:
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA9PCL9AV05OHILDV042RUB07D3
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Egyptian police have used teargas and rubber bullets to battle religious students, including many veiled women, who rioted in protest against a book said to defame Islam.Up to 50 students were injured and taken to hospital.
    More than 1,000 students of Cairo's Al-Azhar religious university took part in the protest.They marched down the street chanting "there is no God but Allah" and threw stones at police and police vehicles.
    Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as the clashes became increasingly violent.A number of protesters were arrested.
    Around 50 were taken to hospital, including several women.
    The protesters were demanding that the culture ministry stop publication of A Banquet of Seaweed by Syrian author Haider Haider which has been strongly attacked in the press.
    Thousands of male and female students clashed with security forces in a protest against the book late on Sunday and security sources said three officers were injured.The interior ministry declined to confirm the reports.
    The President of al-Azhar University, Ahmed Omar Hashem, met protesters after Sunday's clashes and promised that the culture ministry would try to withdraw the latest reprint of Haider's novel, which was first published more than 10 years ago.
    However, Culture Minister Farouq Hosni was quoted as defending the novel in comments published in the opposition al-Wafd newspaper on Sunday.
    "Intellectuals in the Arab world ask what has happened in Egypt? How have things developed and taken this dangerous turn, far from the truth," Hosni said, referring to the press campaign against the book.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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