Armed forces blocked all entrances leading to Nahda Square in front of Cairo University. Four armoured vehicles and three central security vans were also stationed to prevent any attempt by students to stage a sit-in in the square. Dozens of Muslim Brotherhood students demonstrated inside the university. Their march began from Dar Al-Ulum Faculty and spread across the university with chants against what they described as a coup d'état, referring to the ouster of Islamist former president Mohamed Morsi. Angry students wrote on the university's walls slogans against Minister of Defence Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi — “Al-Sisi is a killer” and ‘Al-Sisi is a traitor”. At the same time, the Supreme Council of Universities suspended its meeting before Islamist students reached the main administrative building of Cairo University. Students from the Muslim Brotherhood and Strong Egypt Party demonstrated on 3 November at Cairo and Ain Shams universities to protest against the detention of colleagues. One day earlier students from Alexandria University had demonstrated against Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi's decision to allow security forces to police non-peaceful demonstrations on university premises. Al-Beblawi, Minister of Higher Education Hossam Eissa and Minister of Finance Ahmed Galal met with university representatives this week to discuss ways to secure university premises and safeguard students. Following the meeting Al-Beblawi confirmed that police units will be stationed in front of campuses to check the identity of staff and students as they enter. There have been unconfirmed reports of professors smuggling weapons to students on campus. “Ill-reputed old security guards will not return to universities,” Eissa told the press. “Police forces will be stationed outside university premises.” The government, Eissa added, has agreed to the installation of CCTV cameras at university gates to aid verification of all those entering. “The police do not need permission from university presidents or the general prosecution to enter campuses to protect students against the threat of violence,” said Eissa. “A university president does, however, have the right to request the entry of police onto campus should he feel there is a threat. A president who is slow in taking such a step might be dismissed from his post.” The latest decisions on campus security came in response to last week's violent demonstrations at Al-Azhar University. Thirty protesters were ordered detained for 15 days following the storming of the university's administrative building. Half of the detainees are said not to be students but people who sneaked into the university. Following the protests Al-Azhar's Professors' Club called for the return of Ministry of Interior security personnel to the campus to “end the state of chaos, instability and lack of security within universities due to Islamist students' protests”. Club members also called for protests on campus to be criminalised to protect university premises from “sabotage and rioting”. Hassan Nafaa, professor of political science at Cairo University, believes most universities will refuse the return of the police whether they are stationed outside or inside campuses. “I can understand the difficulties facing government officials in the face of daily protests within universities since the beginning of the academic year. We have called several times for private security companies to be hired to control entry to campuses yet no one has responded to our requests,” said Nafaa. The Strong Egypt Student Movement condemned the cabinet's decision to station security forces at university entrances. According to a press release issued by the movement on 31 October, only the Supreme Council of Universities can take such a decision. “The move will end independence of universities and return us to the situation that prevailed under President Hosni Mubarak and which students totally rejected,” read the statement. The movement said it will join other groups in arranging regular protests against the presence of police forces on or outside university premises. Cairo University President Gaber Nassar insists security forces will not be allowed to enter university grounds unless their presence is an absolute necessity. “In cases of criminal offences that constitute a clear violation of the law and university regulations,” he said, “the severest penalties should apply. Students could be dismissed for three years. I don't believe any student would risk their future in such a way.” Nassar believes the prime minister's decision is temporary and will be rescinded once things get back to normal. “I promise not to allow security forces to enter the university campus unless there is a dire need,” he said. Meanwhile, the university is conducting training sessions for civil security personnel on the proper means of dealing with angry students, demonstrations as well as all forms of chaos which students might cause. “Sometimes Islamist students provoke civil security personnel intentionally in order to benefit from their attacks in front of the media,” Nassar added. In October 2010 the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that security guards affiliated to the Interior Ministry must be removed from university campuses. The decision was applied in March 2011 when the police were replaced by outside guards. Awatef Abdel-Rahman, professor of mass communication at Cairo University, sees the prime minister's decision as the first step in the eventual return of interior ministry forces. “What the prime minister and minister of higher education are claiming about the non-return of the police is absurd. Having police forces in front of university gates inspecting and determining who enters means they are already back,” says Abdel-Rahman. “There are plenty of alternatives that can be employed to ensure students' discipline. The involvement of the security forces in universities is a regression to earlier eras of oppression.”
