Hundreds of university students across Egypt protested on 21 November against the violence which led to the death of a student at Al-Azhar University the day before while taking part in demonstrations. Abdel-Ghani Mahmoud, a student at the Faculty of Medicine, was shot in the head during the protest. Al-Azhar students have been protesting since 20 November against the arrests and killing of their colleagues during the past few weeks. They were also memorialising the 100 days which have passed since the security crackdown in August on the two pro-Morsi sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square in Cairo and Giza. Angry students marched earlier from the university campus in Nasr City to Al-Azhar's central administrative building seeking to break into the university's administrative building. Clashes began a few hours after the university administration banned protests inside the university campus and suspended student union activities because of instability in the university. Accordingly, 24 students were arrested and one killed during the protests. Protesters stoned university walls with bricks and rocks, while others set fire to the campus's dormitory. Police stormed into the campus as violence escalated between students who were throwing petrol bombs and police forces firing tear gas. Students want the firing of Ahmed Al-Tayeb, grand sheikh of Al-Azhar, as well as the university's president Osama Al-Abd. According to Warda Abdel-Sattar, a student at Al-Azhar University, since the toppling of Mohamed Morsi as president, Al-Abd has been providing religious cover-up for the military-backed government's crimes. “We want our detained colleagues to be released and we want retribution for the death of our martyred colleague Mahmoud,” said Abdel-Sattar. The court, according to Abdel-Sattar, “has sentenced 12 of our colleagues to two years in jail for attacking the university's administrative building. The verdict is unfair. They shouldn't have been tried in court in the first place. If necessary, university administration could have suspended them for a few weeks or a month, but not ruin their whole future,” argued Abdel-Sattar. Mohamed Fathallah, spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population, told the press the student died because he was shot by a birdshot pellet. He added that no injuries were reported after last week's clashes. Meanwhile, the university president suspended all student activities immediately after the clashes, instructing all faculty deans to request police intervention in case of any attacks on lives or university property. He also requested the minister of interior to instruct the police to help him in banning protests amid the unjustified, recurrent attacks the university has been experiencing since the beginning of the academic year. Abdallah Abdel-Mottaleb, spokesman of Al-Azhar's student union, said, “Al-Abd does not have the right to ban us from protesting. It's our right to express our opinion freely. During Morsi, we were enjoying our freedom of expression. There was true democracy, unlike now.” Abdel-Mottaleb added that student union activities had already stopped. “None of us will be able to exercise any activity within the university premises any more. The time for democracy has ended,” claimed Abdel-Mottaleb. In collaboration with Al-Azhar University students, students of the activist 6 April youth movement, the Dostour Party and the Strong Egypt Party joined several demonstrations commemorating the 100-day anniversary of the dispersing the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square sit-ins. Mohamed Al-Baqer, a leader of the Strong Egypt Party, stated that the government's policy has left students no other choice but to demonstrate. “When it comes to students' freedom, we must unite. The government is trying to politicise the campuses. It is also classifying and dealing with each student according to his affiliation,” he said. At the same time, dozens of engineering students at Cairo University demonstrated against the detention of their colleagues who had been imprisoned during the recent clashes. “The strike was to avenge our colleagues who had been killed and arrested in the recent clashes,” Abdel-Mottaleb said. The students marched around the campus while chanting slogans against military force and glorifying the martyrs while requesting the release of detained students. During their march, angry students expressed their rejection of military rule. Cairo University saw increased administrative security forces in order to prevent any violence between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and their opponents while marching on campus. Former presidential adviser Pakinam Al-Sharkawi who is also a university professor participated in the demonstrations against the government as well as the army. Al-Sharkawi was chanting slogans with the students. “The government as well as the university must accept the students' will and meet their demands. They will not refrain from demonstrating. We as university professors are supporting them. Their demands are legitimate and no one can blame them,” said Al-Sharkawi. According to a recent report issued by the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, November was the “worst and the most dangerous ever” since the 25 January Revolution of 2011, as it has threatened student freedom and independence of universities. “This week witnessed all kinds of violations, as security forces attacked university campuses, attacking students with tear gas which resulted in injury,” the report read. The report also saw a visible increase in the number of suspended students in universities, including heads of student unions. Moreover, some students have been suspended without even being called in for questioning. At the same time, the engineering student union of Al-Zagazig University held a press conference on 24 November to announce that a peaceful strike by students will continue until all student demands are met. Among their demands are the release of detained students, a private company to secure the university campus, and the resignation of both the faculty's dean and the university's president. In a show of unity with their colleagues in Ain Shams, Helwan and Zagazig, university students refused to sit for their mid-term exams.
