Two students of the German University in Cairo announced Friday they will stage an open-ended hunger strike because of what they call the “arbitrary” expulsions of a student and teaching assistant.
The university expelled the two after they organized a protest at the campus demanding punishment for those responsible for the 74 killed at a Port Said football match last month. One of their colleagues was killed in the violence.
Meanwhile, hundreds of university students continued a sit-in in front of the university's main gate in protest of the expulsions.
Mohamed Dawoud, a representative of the GUC chapter of the Union of Students in Egypt, said the two began their open-ended hunger strike Friday, and will continue it until the university readmits them and others who have been temporarily expelled.
The protesting students will send a memorandum to the public prosecutor to legally register their sit-in, Dawoud added.
Dawoud explained that the union called the police to report the intended hunger strike, but the police refused to record it, telling them to go to the police station. Instead, the union decided to report the strike to the public prosecution.
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression will hold a press conference Sunday at which students will describe the actions of the university administration. A lawyer from the association will be present as well to speak about the legal technicalities of the two lawsuits his organization has filed against the university.
The students have filed another lawsuit at the State Council against the president of the Supreme Council of Private Universities; and the chairman of the Board of Trustees, president, and dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the German University in Cairo.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
