After an unusually long break, university students across Egypt resumed their studies on 8 March, a week before the return of Al-Azhar University students. The date had been delayed twice, as the ministries of higher education and interior struggled to ensure that adequate security arrangements would be on hand to prevent any recurrence of the violence that marked last semester. The commencement of the second semester at the country's universities was relatively quiet despite some clashes at Ain Shams and Cairo Universities. At Al-Azhar, 16 students were expelled for violent action within the university premises. A group calling itself Ain Shams University Students against the Coup (SAC) destroyed the main gate of the university's Computer Science Faculty during protests on 16 March. SAC members also attempted to assault the faculty's dean, but were stopped by security personnel. They let off flares and fireworks, leading to clashes between the SAC members and their opponents. Ayman Abdullah, head of faculty security, said that the SAC students had broken the locks and entered the facility by force. SAC coordinator Hazem Tarek denied the allegations, saying that the “students were able to enter the faculty through the back door because security forgot to lock it.” During the protests, SAC members chanted slogans against the faculty's dean, security guards, the Ministry of Interior and what they called military rule. The students also chanted the name of Abdel-Rahman Yousri, a student killed by the security forces on campus last January. The protesting students chanted and sprayed graffiti on different parts of the campus. Security personnel closed the university's gates in order to prevent the entrance of further SAC students and to damp down the disturbances. SAC students at Cairo University also protested in front of the Dar Al-Olum Faculty and burnt the Emirati and Israeli flags under the university's dome after marching through the campus. Security personnel closed the gates of the university's administrative building to prevent the students from storming it. Last week, police arrested four people said to have been responsible for the violence that took place in front of Cairo University on the first day of the second semester. According to a statement issued by the interior ministry, the individuals were arrested outside the university's premises. Meanwhile, hundreds of female Al-Azhar University students protested in front of the university's administrative building on Monday, chanting slogans against the army, police and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb. The students, who raised the four-finger logo of the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in, demanded the release of their detained colleagues. The toppling of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July and the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda Square have led to students supporting the Brotherhood to protest against what they insist was a “coup” against the country's first elected president. The university's student union condemned the dispersal of the student protests. “The students will continue in their revolutionary action regardless of the cost,” said union spokesman Ahmed Said. At the same time, the protesting students sprayed the newly constructed and painted walls on campus that the university had built to protect the students, staff, and university property. The walls were sprayed with slogans against Al-Azhar's administration, as well as the University board, condemning the arrest of students during the first semester. Mahmoud Al-Azhari, a spokesman for the SAC movement, described the newly constructed walls as the “Berlin Wall or the Separation Wall of Israel.” Al-Azhari said that spraying the walls was a step towards what he described as “Al-Azhar's second uprising.” Police then stormed the university to disperse the protest staged by the female students. Several of them were detained. University President Osama Al-Abd issued a decree to expel 16 students belonging to the Faculties of Commerce, Science, Islamic Studies, Dar Al-Olum, Arabic Literature and Islamic and Arabic Studies on the grounds that they had incited disturbances. “The expelled students attempted to climb the university's walls, and they led the demonstrations that took place on the second day of the beginning of the academic year,” Al-Abd said. The students were also protesting against a court order issued in February that allowed the return of the police to university campuses. The ruling contradicts another ruling issued by the Supreme Administrative Court in 2010 stating that security personnel affiliated to the interior ministry should be replaced by administrative security personnel. The recent court decision has stirred controversy among students, and the SAC has organised protests condemning the decision. Minister of Higher Education Wael Al-Degwi said in a press statement on Monday that only administrative security personnel would be present on campus. Al-Degwi said that security forces affiliated with the interior ministry would be present outside campuses, but would only be allowed inside after permission had been given by the university concerned in accordance with the protocol signed between the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Higher Education. Last semester, many of the country's universities witnessed violent clashes between the security forces and the SAC. The clashes led to the storming of different university campuses by the security forces, starting with Al-Azhar University on 30 October. An unidentified number of students were detained, and five were reported to have died as a result of the clashes.
