Egyptian students protest after Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested

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Egyptian students protest after Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested

(Xinhua) 08:14, October 31, 2013

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CAIRO, Oct. 30 -- Students who support the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) stormed an administrative building at Al-Azhar University in eastern Cairo's Nasr City district a few hours after the MB's senior members were arrested on Wednesday.

Egyptian TV footage showed the students storming the university 's offices and holding its chairman, Osama el-Abd, in his office.

Police entered the university to disperse the MB supporters upon a request from its chairman. Twenty-five people were arrested amid clashes with security at the university, state-run Ahram Arabic news website quotes judicial officials as saying.

The top Islamic education institution is located a few kilometers away from Rabaa Al-Adawia Square, the main spot for Morsi's supporters where they had camped before authorities cleared out their sit-ins on Aug. 14. The students attempted several times to restore the camp, but security forces controlled the situation.

Since the beginning of the academic year, the students supporting the Brotherhood group and demanding the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi have been holding protests.

In the Delta city of Mansoura, the Islamists kept protesting on regular base. The president of the Mansoura's university urged on Tuesday the police forces to disperse them and maintain order inside the buildings, but the interior ministry refused it unless prosecution gives orders, fearing allegations that police use harsh means against students.

Several other Egyptian universities have seen similar protests, where some of them turns into clashes between supporters and opponents of Brotherhood.

On Wednesday, 27 people were injured in clashes in universities around Egypt, state-run Ahram website quoted a Ministry of Health source as saying. Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi said on Wednesday that security in universities must be restored.

Analysts see that Brotherhood continue with their protests in universities in order to get better stance in their negotiations with the interim government.

As the MB supporters continue their protests, Egyptian authorities keep arresting MB leaders and members. More than 2,000 Brotherhood members and leaders have been arrested since the ouster of Morsi on July 3.

Another senior leader Essam al-Erian, deputy president of the MB's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), was arrested early on Wednesday in an apartment in the New Cairo district, where he was hiding.

Al-Erian was then transferred to the Tora prison complex in southern Cairo, where many of the Brotherhood's leaders are now detained, and he has been remanded in custody for 30 days on Wednesday pending investigations into charges of instigating violence and killing in the clashes between local residents and supporters of Brotherhood in Giza's Beyn el-Sarayat district in July and near Giza's Al-Istiqama Mosque in August.

The arrest of al-Arian, which came a few days before the beginning of the trial of Morsi, can be described as a new blow to the group that still continues their demonstrations.

During his time of hiding, al-Erian sent several messages through records that were aired by Al-Jazeera satellite TV Channel. Through his messages he urged university students and professors who supports Morsi to continue with their protests and to try to halt studying at the country's universities.

Brotherhood supporters have called for mass demonstrations on Nov. 4 when Morsi goes to trial over charges of inciting the killing and torturing of protesters in front of the Presidential Palace last December. The call by Brotherhood supporters raises fears that demonstrations may turn into deadly clashes with more bloodshed.