A protest rally planned by Egyptian opposition groups and members of liberal political parties outside the Arab League Headquarters in downtown Cairo on Dec. 9 was called off after the Interior Ministry refused to issue the necessary security permits for the demonstration to be held. The rally, meant to denounce US President Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, had been timed to coincide with an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers held to coordinate a unified response to Trump’s move. The foreign ministers later released a statement calling on the United States to reverse its decision, which they described as “a provocation to Muslims and Christians in the region” and “a dangerous violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.”

A day earlier, hundreds of Egyptians had demonstrated at Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque after weekly Friday prayers, chanting anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans and raising placards reaffirming Jerusalem's Arab and Islamic identity. Dozens of worshippers also protested at Al-Qaed Ibrahim mosque in central Alexandria after Friday prayers, chanting "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine" and burning an Israeli flag. The protests, staged amid a heavy police presence, came on the heels of an earlier demonstration staged outside the Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo on Dec. 7, at which dozens of protesters set fire to Israeli flags. Ten people arrested by security forces at the protest site were released on bail three days later, but prosecutors ordered the detention of two journalists, Ahmed Abdel Aziz and Hossam El Suweify (who were among the protesters), for 15 days pending investigation on charges of “participating in an illegal protest” and “inciting hatred against the regime.” An anti-protest law issued in November 2013, which has been slammed by rights groups as “a grave threat to freedom of assembly,” bans demonstrations held without prior approval from the police and gives security forces free rein to use excessive force against protesters.

Defying the anti-protest law, hundreds of university students marched on campus at Al-Azhar University on Dec. 10 to condemn Trump’s move. Al-Azhar University, Islam’s oldest learning institution, also had been the scene of violent student protests in the wake of the military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. In a rare show of solidarity with the students, faculty members and staff joined the Dec. 10 protest, waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-American slogans. Dozens of students and professors also rallied against the US decision at Ain Shams University in Cairo and Menoufiya University in the Nile Delta province of the same name. The participation of senior faculty members in the rallies was a sign that authorities had given the green light for the on-campus protests “to allow students to vent their anger and frustration,” a media professor at Al-Azhar told Al-Monitor. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Anger is simmering in Cairo and other Egyptian cities over soaring food prices as annual inflation rates surged to their highest in decades, hitting 33% in July, fueled by cuts in fuel subsidies. The slashing of the subsidies is part of a five-year economic reform program launched by the government in mid-2014 to secure a $12 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund. The reforms have included the flotation of the Egyptian pound with the aim of drawing foreign capital back to the country. The exchange rate has since fluctuated, reaching a record 19.2 Egyptian pounds to the dollar in the last weeks of 2016, from 8.89 per dollar at the time the pound was floated. While the exchange rate appears to have stabilized in recent months, hovering between 17.2 and 17.6 to the dollar, the devaluation of the currency has pushed the price of many goods out of the reach of ordinary citizens.