Mauritania university students hold pro-Palestine protests as part of 'Al-Aqsa Week'

The auditorium of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, was filled last night with hundreds of students, political figures and prominent intellectuals, who came to mark "Al-Aqsa Week" as part of the "Fighting Zionist Infiltration" campaign.

Also in attendance were Palestinian personalities and local representatives of the "National Association for the Support of the Palestinian People”.

Ahmed Talib, the student organization’s vice president, spoke at the beginning of the event, explaining the importance of Al-Aqsa Week, and the annual event in "building the student's belief in the centrality of the Palestinian cause and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

In his speech, he added that "the wave of Judaism that Al-Aqsa Mosque is exposed to, the terrorism and the threat from the Zionists towards the Palestinians, oblige the nation and the students to establish trust in the Palestinian cause, and to always work to support it and actively engage in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.”

He further emphasized that “[Mauritania] rejects all attempts to sell the Palestinian cause through normalization, and other deals whose main title is treason and Zionism. The Mauritanian people stand by the Palestinian people, and their firm belief is at the center of the Palestinian cause and the choice of resistance."

Were these students acting in conjunction with an organization?

The student initiative for the fight against "Zionist infiltration" is part of a non-profit organization founded in the country in 1998. According to the organization’s own resources, its establishment at the time constituted a "cultural platform for defining the Palestinian cause, disseminating information on the subject, and mobilizing to serve it." 

Simultaneously, hundreds participated in mass marches in support of the Palestinians and called to avoid normalization.