Interior Ministry claims that Brothers involved in campus protests

The Interior Ministry claimed Saturday that the international Muslim Brotherhood is behind recent unrest on university campuses and main centers in Egypt.

In a statement, the ministry said the protests and confrontations between students and security forces is part of a plan conceived by the international Muslim Brotherhood organization and developed in a meeting held by the group’s members in Egypt. 

The ministry said it arrested members of the group during a meeting held in Alexandria last Wednesday, at which papers detailing the plans were confiscated. The statement credited the National Security Apparatus with gathering the information which led to the arrests.

According to the ministry, the documents reveal plans to mobilize protests in universities and schools, activate agents who promote social and professional demands and disrupt the transitional road map. 

The aim, the statement said, was to spread fear among the people and show that the current interim government is unable to run the country.

Human rights defenders have criticized the police for using violence to disperse peaceful protests over the past week, following the adoption of the new protest law, which criminalizes protesting without notifying the police.

On Saturday, police used tear gas inside the Alexandria University campus to disperse protesting students, the Middle East News Agency reported. On Thursday, a student was killed inside the Cairo University campus after police fired upon protesters from outside the university gates.