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| Crackdown on Student Protesters in Egypt | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| CAIRO — Egyptian security forces are tightening their crackdown on student activism by arresting scores of students at the start of the school term in an effort to crush a renewed wave of protests against the military-backed government that took power last year. | |
| Mohamed Atef, the president of the student union at Al Azhar University in Cairo and the founder of Students Against the Coup, said the police had raided his family home in Assiut at 3 a.m. Monday looking for him and had arrested his brother. | |
| At least 91 students have been arrested in Egypt since Friday, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, which has chapters on campuses across the country. | At least 91 students have been arrested in Egypt since Friday, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, which has chapters on campuses across the country. |
| Universities are some of the last pockets of visible opposition to the military-backed government outside of the relatively lawless Sinai Peninsula, where militant Islamist groups are waging a campaign of guerrilla attacks against security forces. | Universities are some of the last pockets of visible opposition to the military-backed government outside of the relatively lawless Sinai Peninsula, where militant Islamist groups are waging a campaign of guerrilla attacks against security forces. |
| The campuses, though, have a special significance in Egypt because they are central to middle-class life. They have also been seedbeds for the collaboration among Islamist and left-leaning youth groups, who together led the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak. After the military took power in the summer of 2013, student protests all but shut down classes at several major universities for most of the school year, continuing even after other street protests were crushed. At least 14 students were killed in clashes with police, and thousands were arrested; more than 900 remain in prison more than a year later, according to the association. | The campuses, though, have a special significance in Egypt because they are central to middle-class life. They have also been seedbeds for the collaboration among Islamist and left-leaning youth groups, who together led the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak. After the military took power in the summer of 2013, student protests all but shut down classes at several major universities for most of the school year, continuing even after other street protests were crushed. At least 14 students were killed in clashes with police, and thousands were arrested; more than 900 remain in prison more than a year later, according to the association. |
| President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who led the military takeover, reacted to the protests with an edict giving himself personal authority to appoint university presidents and department heads. He gave his appointees new powers to expel students and dismiss faculty. Applicants for student housing were screened by the Interior Ministry. The country’s security forces were given new access to campuses, while a private security force got a contract to operate metal detectors and search arriving students. | |
| Even so, fresh protests broke out at several universities as soon as they reopened on Sunday. Students Against the Coup, a national coalition of groups, posted videos denouncing the detentions, the new security measures and infringements on academic freedom, as well as the ouster of the elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. | Even so, fresh protests broke out at several universities as soon as they reopened on Sunday. Students Against the Coup, a national coalition of groups, posted videos denouncing the detentions, the new security measures and infringements on academic freedom, as well as the ouster of the elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. |
| The university has become “like a big prison,” a female student at Al Azhar declared in one statement. “They are afraid of the students speaking a word of truth,” she said, vowing to continue protesting “without those expelled and imprisoned.” | The university has become “like a big prison,” a female student at Al Azhar declared in one statement. “They are afraid of the students speaking a word of truth,” she said, vowing to continue protesting “without those expelled and imprisoned.” |
| What portion of the demonstrating this week were Islamists could not be determined. Many Islamist and non-Islamist activists on and off campus have turned against each other since they divided during the wave of protests against Mr. Morsi before his overthrow. | What portion of the demonstrating this week were Islamists could not be determined. Many Islamist and non-Islamist activists on and off campus have turned against each other since they divided during the wave of protests against Mr. Morsi before his overthrow. |
| Pre-dawn raids over the weekend led to the arrests of at least 67 students from their homes, the official state media reported, and many more were arrested when campus protests broke out. | Pre-dawn raids over the weekend led to the arrests of at least 67 students from their homes, the official state media reported, and many more were arrested when campus protests broke out. |
| The country’s higher education minister, Al Sayed Abdul Khaliq, vowed in a television interview on Sunday that he would “immediately” expel any student or faculty member who proved to have taken part in a protest. | The country’s higher education minister, Al Sayed Abdul Khaliq, vowed in a television interview on Sunday that he would “immediately” expel any student or faculty member who proved to have taken part in a protest. |
| Mohamed El Kenawy, the president of Mansoura University, warned on another TV program that the police would respond to any gathering “in a decisive manner, in a way greater than anyone can imagine.” | Mohamed El Kenawy, the president of Mansoura University, warned on another TV program that the police would respond to any gathering “in a decisive manner, in a way greater than anyone can imagine.” |
| “Do not tell me about freedom of expression,” he said in a video recording. | |