Cairo University’s Qasr al-Aini Hospital was broken into and shots were fired in the air as clashes erupted on Tuesday between hospital security and military police. Three hospital security workers were arrested, and two military personnel were injured.
Hassan Khairy, the dean of the faculty of medicine, held an urgent meeting with the faculty board to discuss the consequences.
Meanwhile, dozens of university workers protested against the attack on the campus, demanding the release of their colleagues. They closed the main gate of the hospital except for emergency cases.
Hospital security told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the clashes began when one of the military personnel attempted to flirt with a nurse. The situation then escalated as hospital security blamed him.
“After the end of clashes, we were surprised by seven military police vehicles breaking through the main gate and firing shots in the air. Everyone ran away,” a hospital security source said.
A statement distributed by workers among their colleagues said, “For our campus that was violated by the military police, where shots were fired randomly at the hospital without considering sanctity of the patients, and for detaining many of our colleagues without right, we’re calling on you to stage an open-ended sit-in until our colleagues are officially released and an official apology for breaking into the hospital is made.”
Cairo University President Hossam Kamel said that communication between the university and the military prosecution is ongoing to release the university’s detained workers.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
