Cairo University students strike over ongoing campus violence

Cairo University’s faculty of engineering student union commenced a strike on Thursday, demanding security and stability for the rest of the school year until investigations into the clashes and deaths of fellow students are completed, state-owned daily newspaper Al-Ahram reported.

The students held banners saying, “I have the right to learn safely,” and, “No to the injury of students inside classes.” They also demanded the immediate release of their colleague Ahmed Salah Nabih, arrested on March 4, and all students in prison, asking others to join them in the strike until they achieve their demands.

Also on Thursday, the Dean of Science at Alexandria University, Mohamed Ismail Abdo, said that the surveillance cameras on campus had captured acts of violence by what he described as Muslim Brotherhood students, privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm said.

Abdo said that students had destroyed the glass doors for three laboratories, two classrooms and two bathrooms, in addition to a surveillance camera and a car. They then left the campus and headed onto Suez Street, blocking the tram lines, in addition to carrying out reported acts of violence and vandalism inside the faculties of science, agriculture and engineering. He added that a complete report would be handed to the dean of Alexandria University in the next few days.

Students nationwide started demonstrations yesterday, called for by the Anti-Coup Alliance, a pro-Brotherhood coalition formed after the deposition of former President Mohamed Morsi, denouncing the deaths and arrests of hundreds of Brotherhood members and their allies since July last year.

Demonstrations and protest marches have been called for until the end of the month.