Clashes break out during pro-Morsi student protests on Tuesday

Ahram Online, Tuesday 17 Dec 2013

Islamist students clash with police and administrative guards on campuses outside Cairo, while others in the capital block roads

Student
Protesters shout slogans against the military and interior ministry, while gesturing with four fingers in front of riot police after blocking Al Nasr street in front of Al-Azhar University headquarters at Cairo's Nasr City district, November 19, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)

More than a dozen students were injured Tuesday afternoon as supporters of toppled president Mohamed Morsi staged protests in Cairo and elsewhere against the country's interim authorities.

A pro-Morsi grouping, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, had called for the demonstrations in protest at recent arrests of student protesters at a number of Egyptian universities.

Fifteen student protesters were injured at a medical complex in Tanta University in Gharbiya governorate after clashes with university guards in which stones were hurled, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported.

The university president later called in security forces to quell the violence.

In Cairo, dozens of students from Al-Azhar University, a historic seat of Sunni Muslim learning, attempted to march from the university to the site of a pro-Morsi protest camp broken up by police four months ago, reported MENA news agency.

The university is a short walk from the Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque, scene of one of two sizeable pro-Morsi sit-ins that were forcibly dispersed by security forces mid-August, leaving hundreds dead.

Students shouted slogans against police and the military "coup" that toppled Morsi in July after massive protests against his troubled single year in power.

Dozens of students also blocked a road leading to one of the university's gates, bringing traffic to a standstill.

Also on Tuesday, police fired teargas at stone-throwing students protesting outside Assiut University in Assiut province in Upper Egypt. Students held aloft banners in support of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement and shouted anti-police and army slogans.

The protests against "security interference" in university affairs came despite the passing of new legislation that requires protesters to notify police in advance of any demonstrations.

Police have repeatedly used water cannons and teargas to scatter student protests in recent weeks. Two students were shot dead in Cairo during the violence in November, sparking outcry on campuses.

Pro-Morsi protests have been largely limited to universities in recent months, as a broad security crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies has impeded their ability to mobilise on the streets.

The interior ministry said 25 people were arrested after a student demonstration in eastern Cairo turned violent on Monday.

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