Cairo International Book Fair
The CIBF has had problems in recent years. Leftist and Muslim militant authors, works critical of the government, and works with sections or topics that are seen as sexually or culturally controversial have been banned from the book fair. During the 2000 book fair, Islamist protests became violent. That year, more than 2000 members of Muslim student groups protested outside Al-Azhar University. This led to rare public protests against the Egyptian government, violence, 75 arrests and a number of injuries. The students were protesting an Egyptian Ministry of Culture publisher printing and selling copies of the 1983 novel A Banquet for Seaweed by the Syrian writer Haidar Haidar. After the protests, two members of the government printing house were also arrested for "disparaging religion" and publishing a work "offensive to public morals".