The universities of Cairo, Alexandria, Mansoura and Minya witnessed student demonstrations on Monday against the recent storming of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli security forces. Campus security guards clashed with students, some of whom set fire to Israeli flags. The demonstrations overshadowed concurrent student union elections, which saw relatively low turnouts as a result. At the universities of Cairo and Mansoura, students associated with the formally-banned Muslim Brotherhood (MB) opposition group also staged protests against university administrations for barring their colleagues from running in elections. Protestors claim that elections are rigged in favor of pro-regime candidates. At Minya University, two MB-affiliated students were expelled from the university, while 25 others are being investigated on charges of "attempting to attract new students to a banned group." At Alexandria University, meanwhile, some 2000 students staged a protest vigil on campus against recent Israeli violations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site. They called on Arab and Muslim governments to protect Islamic holy places and demanded the closure of Israel's embassy in Cairo. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
