(AFP/ file photo)
Cairo University’s administrative security has begun taking “intense security measures”, to prepare for the new academic year, state-owned Al-Ahram reported on Sunday.
The university’s administrative security also began painting trees, sidewalks, and walls inside the campus to remove all graffiti with “offensive phrases against the police and the military”, reported Al-Ahram.
Youssef Salaheen, a spokesperson for Students Against the Coup (SAC) activist group, said that “they may consider these phrases offensive but for us they are the truth. The military and the police have committed crimes.”
He added that removing graffiti from the walls “will not change anything,” and that “students will come back and fill the walls with more phrases.”
“In regards to the security measures the universities are taking, whether they are in Cairo University or Al-Azhar, they will not affect the student movement. We will be just as active as we were last year,” Salaheen said.
Gaber Nassar, the president of Cairo University, recently announced that the university will ban all politically-affiliated student groups and activities. He also said the university has recently partnered with a security company which will provide security dogs to detect on-campus bombs.
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), an organisation which works on student rights, held a four-day workshop to discuss state violence inside campuses and its negative impacts on student rights and freedoms.
According to the AFTE student observatory, security forces killed six students inside the Cairo University campus last year. Security forces killed at least 16 students inside university campuses across Egypt over the past year, according to the observatory’s statistics.
Cairo University expelled 94 students for taking part in protests last year. Security forces also arrested more than 48 students from inside the Cairo University campus last year.
In Ain Shams University students are to sign consent forms saying they will not participate in on-campus political activities, according to statements from the university’s vice dean.
The new academic year, initially due to start in mid-September, has been postponed to 11 October.
Salaheen added that the current regime is “terrified of the students and what they can do… this is why they keep delaying the start of the academic year”.
