Court orders return of university security

The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters endorsed a ruling for the return of Ministry of Interior personnel in university campuses on Tuesday, the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.

The Court of Urgent Matters had issued a ruling earlier this year ordering the return of university security in the aftermath of recurring clashes and violence in university campuses. Clashes erupted as Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated protests were staged in universities and turned violent with police intervention, following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi last year.

At least eight students have died in these clashes so far.

Lawyer Tahany Ibrahim had demanded that the court support the earlier ruling and push the government to implement it, in a complaint against the president and the minister of interior.

No executive measures were taken to implement the earlier ruling on the return of university security, however.

Both court rulings stand in contradiction with an earlier ruling in in 2010 by the Supreme Administrative Court banning the presence of decades-long Ministry of Interior security in university campuses, a ruling many associated with the increasing activism ahead of the January 25 revolution.

Students from various political currents have slammed the court ruling ordering the return of university security. The March 9 Professors Movements criticized the ruling, saying that there should be no excuse for the return of security on campus, including that of Brotherhood violence.