World Bulletin/News Desk
Administrative staff and students at some of the schools of Cairo University were asked to evacuate their offices and classrooms for fear of potential violence by students backing ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Earlier in the day, the staff of a private security company assigned with the mission of guarding entrances and exits of the university based in Giza province had withdrawn amid students protests.
The university's administrative guards closed down all the gates of the campus and allowed students and vehicles to exit from its main gate only.
On Wednesday, personnel from the security company were deployed at the university entrances and exits ahead of the start of the new academic year on Saturday.
On Sunday, however, clashes erupted between pro-Morsi students and the staff of the private security company at Cairo University, leading to the destruction of a metal detectors placed on one of the student entry doors.
The same thing happened inside Al-Azhar University in eastern Cairo where pro-Morsi students also clashed with the company guards and destroyed one of the metal detectors.
Even with this, university president Abdel-Hai Azab said the violence had not negatively affected study at the university.
Azab said the law would be applied to those who proved to be involved in the protests, noting that student violators would be dismissed for good.
At Cairo University, four security guards were injured because of the clashes, a security source said. He added that some of the equipment of the security guards were also stolen.
At Ain Shams University, in eastern Cairo, pro-Morsi students set off fireworks, which led to the withdrawal of the staff of the private security company and allowing the students to enter and exit unchecked.
Similar events took place in other universities, including Alexandria University, Beni Sueif University and the University of Damietta.
The pro-Morsi Students against Coup movement on Saturday called for staging an "uprising" inside the universities on Sunday, the second day of the new academic year.
Egypt's security and education officials are afraid that the new academic year will be similar to the previous one: full of student violence.
A large number of students were put in jail last year for participating in protests backing the ousted president.
Morsi was deposed by the military in July last year after mass protests against his one-year rule. His backers, however, call his ouster a "military coup."
By Islam Mosaad
Güncelleme Tarihi: 12 Ekim 2014, 17:41
