Student protests continued on Thursday in a number of universities as students called for the resignation of university heads and administrative staff. Clashes broke out between students, staff and security personnel at Cairo University’s Faculty of Mass Communications as the students and Faculty Deputy Hassan Emad Mekawy tried to blame each other for the violence.
Mekawy accused the protesters of detaining him for four hours and smashing his car indshield along with faculty windows. Mekawy told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he filed complaints at the Giza police station, the Giza public prosecution and the country’s ruling military council, in which he accused the students of attempting to kill him.
“The students tried to prevent me from holding a university council meeting after they learned that Dr. Sami Abdel Aziz entrusted me with the deanship,” he said. “When I refused, they surrounded me, and I was only able to get out with the help of university security personnel.”
The students, for their part, denied allegations that they had attacked Mekawy, explaining that they had asked him not to accept the delegation of authority by Abdel Aziz.
They also said they were attacked on Wednesday by people claiming to be university security personnel and that these people then proceeded to smash the faculty windows. They also said that a university employee driving Mekawy’s car hit four of the protesters with the car.
Meanwhile, following the clashes that occurred between students on campus, classes at Helwan University were put on hold for a week from Saturday until 28 April. The clashes resulted in the injury of several students who were transferred to the hospital, while six others were sent to the Disciplinary Board and were kicked out of university housing.
Port Said University President Mohamed Mohamadain ordered that classes at the Nursing Faculty be halted for one week after faculty students clashed with residents.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
