Police and Al-Azhar students clash

Riot police clashed with Al-Azhar University students in the east Cairo district of Nasr City on Tuesday, firing tear gas into the campus and arresting at least a dozen protesters — including both male and female students.

According to police reports, Muslim Brotherhood students and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi used tree trunks to block streets around the university and chained campus gates to prevent students entering ahead of midterm exams.

According to the protesting students, however, the campus gates were blocked only after plain-clothed security forces had stormed the female students’ campus.

Student protesters hurled rocks and other projectiles at riot police, who responded by firing tear gas canisters both outside and inside the campus. Several students are said to have been injured in the clashes.

Police reports claim that among those arrested Tuesday was a man carrying a pistol and bullets. Protesters have distanced themselves from this alleged suspect and denied claims regarding another student said to have been apprehended while carrying a computer memory-stick containing plans to burn down the campus.

Numerous clashes have occurred between Al-Azhar students and police since security forces violently dispersed a pro-Morsi sit-in outside Nasr City’s Rabea al-Adaweya Mosque on August 14.

The student protests escalated after the on-campus death of student Abdel Ghani Mahmoud, on November 21.

Protesters at Al-Azhar claim police forces killed Mahmoud with a shotgun shell. The interior ministry has denied responsibility, claiming that protesting students were responsible for his death.

Tens of other students at Al-Azhar have been injured or detained in subsequent confrontations with police forces deployed around their campus.