(Photo by Ali Omar)
Clashes erupted outside Giza Security Directorate in Dokki on Sunday between Students Against the Coup (SAC) demonstrators and Central Security Forces (CSF).
A march of dozens of students moved from Cairo University and headed to Nahda Square. The march was organised through the student movement’s official Facebook page, and led by flag bearers who chanted to students holding up four fingers, the sign of Rabaa.
Protesters blocked the road at Nahda, where they then started a tire fire as their numbers swelled to the hundreds. After causing a traffic jam, the group returned to Cairo University; female protesters demonstrated in front of the main gate while male protesters headed to the Giza Security Directorate.
Male protesters burnt a police kiosk near the Security Directorate,and started throwing rocks and using fireworks at the building. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, who eventually retreated to Cairo University.
Clashes lasted for hours as the CSF failed to disperse the demonstrations. Protesters were able to set fire to the hatch of one of the pursuing police trucks with a thrown Molotov cocktail, prompting the officers’ retreat back to the Security Directorate. Meanwhile, protesters were able to wrest a general’s cap and a teargas rifle from security forces.
With officers having left the scene, protesters and a number of unidentified personnel in civilian clothes began to throw rocks at one another until all visible SAC members retreated inside Cairo University. The gates were subsequently closed and the unidentified personnel circled the university’s main gate, including one carrying an assault rifle.
The administrative security asked the students inside the university to leave the campus through the side gates and to clear the area in front of the main gate.
Students Against the Coup has occasionally mobilised students to protest through its Facebook pages. The group recently announced their boycott of the 14-15 January referendum on the new constitution, naming it “the putschist document” and has called Sunday’s protests a part of“The Week of Student Rage,” during which violence is expected to escalate.
Protests have taken place at Cairo, Al-Azhar, Ain Shams, and other universities, and have all resulted in clashes with security forces.
