Hundreds of students from the German University in Cairo (GUC) declared a boycot on the mid-term exams on Saturday after the university administration refused to fulfill their demands to change the security system and dismiss whomever is in charge of killing their colleague Yara Tareq.
The students staged a sit-in last week in protest against the death of their colleague, a first-year engineering student who was hit by a university bus in the parking lot on Monday afternoon.
The Student Union issued a statement addressing the parents whom they asked to join them and express solidarity with the striking students, considering the parents the real owners and financiers of the university. The union later indicated that several parents were denied access to the headquarters, where they were hoping to meet with administrative representatives.
Scuffles broke out between security and the strikers due to the closure of the university gates which prevented other students from joining their striking friends. Union members were nonetheless able to force the security to open the gates for all students.
Meanwhile, the students' actions are escalating outside the university. They are determined to send letters to the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Embassy in Cairo.
“The German University in Cairo, which holds your name, represents the biggest example of negligence. It’s the first one to violate all the rules,” the letter said.
“We always tried to warn the university administration against such dangers, but they did not pay any attention. The result was terrifying when our colleague Yara Tareq was killed. This showed the administration's negligence toward security for the students,” they added.
“We care about the students’ scientific interests. We are keen about our future. However, the students' personal safety, for you and us, is definitely the first priority,” the students said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
