Protests took place in several Egyptian universities on Wednesday as a part of the students’ “revolutionary wave against the coup”, according to a statement by Students Against the Coup (SAC).
According to Youssef Salheen, SAC spokesperson, students responded to calls for protests in the Universities of Al-Azhar, Fayoum, Cairo, Helwan, Beni Suef, Aswan and Kafr El-Sheikh.
Students are protesting the recent death sentences against the “wrongfully and unjustly detained” and the violations carried out against students’ rights.
The Cairo Criminal Court referred the files of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 13 others to the Grand Mufti, a prerequisite before enforcing death sentences, in the trial publicly known as the “Rabaa Operations Room”. The court also decided to adjourn the case to 11 April to issue the verdict for the remaining defendants.
Universities where more protests are planned to be held include the Universities of Cairo, Al-Azhar, Fayoum, and Menufiya among others, according to SAC’ s statement on its official Facebook page.
In a joint statement released Tuesday, student movements and unions at private universities expressed their support for Fayoum University’s ongoing strike calling for the release of detained students and condemning the security forces’ storming into campus earlier last week.
For the past two weeks, Students at the Science and Engineering Faculties in Fayoum University have been undergoing an open-ended strike in response to security forces storming into the campus. Security forces had arrested tens of students randomly, following a protest led by Students Against the Coup (SAC), an anti-government students’ movement, and Zamalek SC hardcore fans Ultras White Knights (UWK) on 9 March.
An Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) report said the educational process in Fayoum University is currently on hold as 90% of students skip lectures waiting for the release of their colleagues.
SAC said on their Facebook page Tuesday that they escalated the strike and shut down the Faculty of Engineering building until the administration responds to their demands.
Protests in several campuses across Egypt, including at Fayoum, Cairo, Al-Azhar, Alexandria and Helwan Universities were called for by SAC throughout the week, in support of the imprisoned students.
Meanwhile, in the German University in Cairo (GUC), engineering student Yara Tarek was hit by a bus on campus, leading to her death on 9 March. The GUC Student Union (SU) announced a sit-in on campus beginning 10 March following the incident, and students later announced the boycotting of midterm examinations due to their demands not being met. As the strike concluded its sixth day, the SU announced the termination of the strike based on the result of the students’ votes on whether or not to continue the strike.
The student union at the American University in Cairo (AUC), along with six other unions and several student movements, announced their solidarity with the GUC student union and condemned the incident and the university’s response.
