Students in university campuses across Egypt held protests on Monday condemning the arrest and suspension of fellow students, and the presence of security forces – including the private security company Falcon – in and around campuses.
Students Against Coup (SAC) said Monday evening that at Fayoum University students will be holding a protest on Tuesday, demonstrating their outrage as a result of “kidnapping students from the university gates and spreading police agents on campus” and “continuation of humiliating the students’ dignity”.
At Alexandria University on Monday, students stormed and destroyed electronic gates using Molotov cocktails, and clashed with Falcon personnel, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).
AFTE added that three students were arrested for promoting “the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and holding protests”.
At Helwan University, AFTE reported that campus security clashed with students using sticks and rocks. SAC reported that police deployed agents in the metro stations leading to the universities.
At Mansoura University, tens of students from SAC protested, calling for the fall of the current regime.
The SAC branch in Banha condemned the arrest of two students from the city’s university, promising more resistance.
The board of Kafr Al-Sheikh University banned political participation on campus, said AFTE.
SAC also stated that a number of protests took place in Menufiya University, before they were dispersed.
At Al-Azhar University on Monday, riot police were ordered by Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim to secure the campus from the inside. In the university’s branch in Daqahleya, three students were arrested after security entered the campus.
At Cairo University, police forces surrounded the gates leading to the faculty of engineering due to anticipated protests. Meanwhile, police will secure the Cairo University gates from the outside in cooperation with the private security company Falcon.
The decisions to deploy the security forces sparked condemnation by the 6 April movement, Al-Azhar University Student Union, and Democracy Index.
The index stated that the authorities are continuing to use oppressive policies which have so far proved ineffective in quelling the student protests. “Security confrontations, legislative restrictions, and media distortion campaigns, and political exclusion” remain to be important tools by which the Egyptian state deals the students, said the group.
