Can knife wielding students really be described as defending the integrity of their educational institution, asks Mohamed Abdel-Baky Two weeks after the Supreme Administrative Court ruled against the presence of Ministry of Interior security personnel on Cairo University campus violent clashes have been reported at Ain Shams University between a group of students and Cairo University professors affiliated to the 9 March Movement. The clash erupted when a group of Cairo University professors visited Ain Shams University as a part of their campaign to raise awareness over the Supreme Administrative Court ruling. On 23 October the Supreme Administrative Court issued a judgement in support of an earlier ruling by the lower administrative court ending the presence of Interior Ministry security personnel. The court viewed their continuous presence on campus as "undermining the independence of universities granted by the law and the constitution and affecting the freedom of professors, students and researchers". The ruling, which cannot be appealed, called on Cairo University's administration to replace Interior Ministry personnel with civilians. Videos distributed by the 6 April Youth Movement show the 9 March Movement delegation, led by medical professor Abdel-Galil Mustafa, talking to students at Ain Shams on 4 November about the importance of the ruling. Minutes later the visiting professors were surrounded by 10 people, said to be students at the Faculty of Law, who attacked the professors, tearing flyers from their hands and threatening the audience they had attracted with belts, chains and knives. The incident left three injured, two students and a journalist working for Al-Yom Al-Sabei news website who was filming the violence. The delegation withdrew from the scene after two of its women members were threatened by a person holding a knife. Students then protested for an hour in front of the administration building. The demonstrators were joined by students affiliated with the 6 April Movement and the Muslim Brotherhood. The videos show security personnel watching the clashes without interfering. Eman Ezzeddin, a member of the 9 March Movement, believes the "violence was staged in order to justify the presence of security personnel on the campus". She refuses any charge that the delegation had acted improperly, saying their aim was to peacefully inform students of their rights and responsibilities towards their educational institution. Ain Shams University administration issued a statement with a different view of events, insisting that what happened was an assault on the university by "non-Ain Shams faculty members" who were "trespassing on the university campus" and distributing papers "without first securing permission from the administration". It described the 9 March delegation as an "intruding group of strangers" while those carrying knives and belts were portrayed as "students jealous to guard their university's independence in face of external interference". Ain Shams University has filed a formal complaint to the president of Cairo University demanding an investigation into the "violation of Shams campus, destabilising security and the obstruction of the educational process". Cairo University responded positively to the complaint, announcing that all faculty members involved would be investigated. Minister of Higher Education Hani Hilal backed Ain Shams University's position, claiming he was in possession of evidence proving the 9 March delegation was behind the violence. On Saturday, Hilal filed a complaint to the prosecutor- general requesting an investigation into "trespassing on the university camps and committing violence against students". "The government will implement the court ruling but that does not mean the faculty should feel free to instigate violence on university campuses," said Hilal. Mustafa responded to Hilal's statement saying that the ministry was in possession of "neither evidence nor facts". The events, he said, were fully documented on videos and in photos, and pointed out that the 9 March Movement has organised hundreds of peaceful demonstrations at Egyptian universities. Egyptian human rights groups issued a joint statement condemning what they call "aggression and violence against students and the 9 March faculty members" which had turned the Ain Sham campus into "a playground for thuggery" rather than "a space for free expression".
