Egypt: Police Attempt To Break Up Sit In Staged By Students

Ikhwanweb quoted student Mahmoud Kotb the coordinator of the MB election campaign in Cairo University as saying in a phone call that the security forces are trying to storm the university compass to break up the sit in staged by the students who protest the repressive measures taken by the university in collaboration with the security agencies to exclude students from running for the Student Union election.

He also said that the authorities are assaulting the students who are rallying outside the university premises using clubs and sticks to disperse them, sealing off the area to keep in the protesting students who have been staging a sit in since 3 o’clock p.m. in protest of the university delaying the candidates’ name lists which were supposed to be made public in the morning of Wednesday November 1, 2006.

Failing to disperse the students even by use of force, the university administration found no way but to make public the statements with names of candidates except MB student candidates.

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood and leftist students are demonstrating at the Cairo University campus in Giza, protesting state security’s hassels against opposition candidates running for the student union elections.

The list of candidates certified to run in the elections should have been announced by 3pm. As of the time of writing, it hasn’t. The student activists smelt a fish, expecting the delay to be related to the security going through the names, putting their final touch, and eleminating names of political activists. Demonstrations broke out on campus. The university gate has been reportedly smashed. The students are currently on a sit in, waiting for the lists to be publicized.

The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression has issued a statement denouncing security violations against students in Helwan, Ain Shams and Cairo universities.

UPDATE: The lists were announced sometime after 8pm. About 200 Muslim Brothers were banned by security, according to a MB student I spoke to over the phone. Demonstrations broke out, and the students tried to go out on the streets, only to be met by the Central Security Forces. The troops clashed with protestors violently at the gates of the university. The standoff ended around 9:30pm.

UPDATE: Click on the picture below to see a slideshow by Nasser Nouri…

UPDATE: I’ve uploaded more pix, taken by Amr Abdallah…

UPDATE: The AFTEE has issued another statement denouncing the security forces’ assaults on students.

Other Topics:

Islamist groups clash with government forces on Egyptian campuses
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