Minister of Higher Education Dr Hossam Eissa mentioned in a press statement on Sunday that the Terrorism Law will be applied inside universities against faculty members who support on-campus protests, as it is considered a felony, reported state owned Al-Ahram.
Eissa highlighted that the penal articles in the executive bylaw of the universities were only changed to punish protesting students, ensuring a suitable educational environment for students and punishing those who commit acts of violence.
In Assiut University clashes erupted between security forces and Students Against the Coup, who reported on their Facebook page the injury of a number of students.
Yousof Moselm, spokesman of Students Against the Coup, said: “A protest organised by our group was held and security forces stormed on campus and attacked students with tear gas and birdshots, leading to an unverified number of injuries.”
Clashes in Assiut University were still ongoing until time of print.
On Sunday the court ordered a 15 day extension for Al-Qahwa Detainees (the coffee shop detainees), according to 6 April media coordinator of Al-Azhar University Sara Hamza.
Last December, 10 student activists, who are members of 6 April, Al-Dostour student office and the Misr Al-Qawia student office in Al-Azhar University were arrested from a coffee shop in Nasr city while discussing politics and were charged of belonging to a terrorist organisation, enticing violence and attacking a journalist, amongst other charges.
Late Saturday, the Al-Dostour Party Student Office, also known as El-Midan Student Group, announced that it will vote No on the draft constitutional referendum.
El-Midan group made an official statement after holding an internal referendum amongst its members in 15 universities. The results of the internal referendum were: 43% will vote No, 25% are boycotting the votes and 20% will vote Yes. In the University of Damietta 100% voted No and 100% voted to boycott the referendum in Al-Azhar University.
In its statement the group highlighted that the internal referendum was held to preserve democracy and its effectiveness in the decision making process.
The statement called on the Egyptian people to not be “blackmailed” by the “directing” campaigns calling for a Yes vote on the grounds of patriotism or by the campaigns calling on citizens to vote No on the grounds of religion.
The statement listed four reasons for the group’s decision to hold an internal referendum: articles politicising the military institution and military trials for civilians, the “unacceptable” overlap of the legislative and executive authorities, progressive taxation only being applied on the income tax and preventive detention, which allows the detention of innocent citizens.
The El-Midan student group has been releasing statements independent of the Political Office of Al-Dostour Party since the dispersal of Rabaa Al-Adweya and Nahda, before which conflicting statements were made by the party and its student office.
