Mauritania’s police, students clash over Islamic classes

Mauritanian police fired tear gas Wednesday to disperse rock-throwing students who were demanding classes resume at an Islamic institution.

About a dozen people were wounded in the clashes which went on for three hours, and two dozen were arrested, said student sources.

Police was not immediately available to confirm the figures.

The student protestors were calling on the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies to resume classes which have been halted this year.

Protestors had organized a sit-in in the institute and were planning a “peaceful march” toward the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, but police arrived to disperse the group as they left the institute, starting the clashes.

Mauritania, a vast desert country in west Africa, is populated by mostly Sunni Muslims.