Students slam return of police on campus

Student activists rejected Cairo University's decision to allow security forces on campus, warning that their presence may endanger student safety.

Speaking at a press conference held on Tuesday, representatives of the university’s student unions demanded that Cairo University protects student safety without recourse to the Interior Ministry.

“We announce our refusal of the repressive decision by Cairo University to admit Interior Ministry security forces onto campus and demand the university puts in place a security strategy that is independent of the Interior Ministry. If not, we will escalate,” said Essam Safwat, deputy head of Cairo University’s faculty of engineering student union.

Universities have been sites of intense clashes between security forces and protesting students following the July 3, 2013 removal of former President Mohamed Morsi. Many students have been injured and several have died as a result of the violence, most recently including two Al-Azhar student fatalities late last month.

A 2010 Supreme Administrative Court verdict declared that the presence of Interior Ministry forces on university campuses was illegal, but in February this year the Cairo Court of Urgent Affairs controversially ruled that police forces could return to campuses. 

Last week three bombs exploded outside Cairo University, killing a police officer. Shortly afterwards, Cairo University’s administration announced that it had decided police forces should be brought onto campuses to maintain security.

Students have long complained of interference by state security in all aspects of university life, especially political activity. Ahmed Mamdouh, a student activist from the faculty of medicine, warned that if police were allowed back on campus, students would be “scared to open their mouths.” He added that, prior to the January 25 revolution, police recruited student informants using threats, such as the failure of exams.

“Regardless of the identity of the perpetrators of this bombing, what has it got to do with Cairo University? Why should we allow police forces onto campuses? This is just sowing the seed for renewed repression. The right to protest inside universities must be guaranteed,” Safwat said.

The main student objection to police on campus is a fear that it will threaten security further. Ahmed Khalaf, head of Cairo University's faculty of political science and economics student union, likened the move to putting gas next to a flame and said it would be “bringing the battlefield inside the university.” He said that when police entered the university on January 16, three students were killed and 42 arrested and that there is currently “a crisis of trust between students and the police.”

Speakers also pointed out that student safety is already in jeopardy and that on Wednesdays, when protests are usually held, students live in fear of the teargas that seeps into their classrooms and the risk of arrest by police forces who they say “do not discriminate between students taking part in demonstrations and those just passing by,” according to Safwat.

“At 5 or 6 pm, we take a breath and thank God if no one has died,” Safwat added.

Student activists said they hold Cairo University's administrative board responsible for the blood that has been spilled and expressed their astonishment at the board's failure to take responsibility for student safety.

Khalaf alleged that emergency evacuation procedures have not been drawn up and that during clashes there is general panic, overcrowding and cases of people choking on teargas as students scramble to leave campus. 

As a result, Safwat says, the student union is warning colleagues not to linger around the faculty of engineering, which overlooks Nahda Square, the usual site of clashes.

Students alleged that the consequences of inviting the police back onto campus had not been properly assessed, nor alternatives sought.

Khalaf suggested a number of means of protecting student safety without resorting to a police presence, such as the introduction of metal detectors at the entrances to the campus. He also alleged that the university's administration had failed to consult students regarding possible solutions, such as boundaries for protests.

“If you can't protect student safety, close the university,” Khalaf urged.

Mamdouh announced that tomorrow a campaign would start to provide students with information on how to stay safe on campus, which is also aimed at restoring relations between the student body and the university's own administrative security staff.