Nouakchott
Young Mauritanians disrupted a keynote speech by Egyptian Culture Minister Mohamed Saber Arab late Sunday, forcing the latter to suspend his address and leave the podium.
The minister was addressing an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Egyptian Cultural Centre in Mauritania when a handful of attendees stood up and started chanting slogans against the minister and Egypt's army-installed interim authorities.
They wore bright yellow t-shirts featuring the black, four-fingered Rabaa sign, a now-famous salute commemorating hundreds of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi killed in mid-August when Egyptian security forces violently dispersed their sit-in in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.
The chants forced the minister to suspend his speech until policemen intervened and led the protesters away.
Minister Arab later returned to the podium and finished his speech.
Earlier this week, a prominent Mauritanian student group criticized the Egyptian minister's visit.
The 'Student Initiative for Resisting Zionist Infiltration' accused the Mauritanian government of "promoting Egypt's military coup and whitewashing its ugly image" by welcoming the Egyptian minister into the country.
Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was deposed by the military last July following protests against his single-year rule.
Since his ouster, the country's military-backed interim authorities have crack downed on his supporters, leaving hundreds killed and thousands detained.
By Sidi Ould Abdel-Malek
englishnews@aa.com.tr
