Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

MB Students Protest Their Exclusion From Student Bodies’ Elections

The day of the student union elections passed actually without any elections in many Egyptian universities due to the state of security escalation through striking off all names except for those loyal to security services.

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The day of the student union elections passed actually without any elections in many Egyptian universities due to the state of security escalation through striking off all names except for those loyal to security services. The security chose unions instead of students. This led to choosing those students affiliated to the security services inside the campuses nationwide. Reactions towards these violations differed from university to another.
 
 
After declaring striking off names of about 520 students from Zagazig university student elections, a demonstration started at 7.30AM until noon under a heavy presence of central security vehicles that ringed the university. The vehicles were laden with rapid spread and central security soldiers.
 
In the demonstration that extended from the university gate to the University President office, the students were holding signs condemning the election fraud, reading for example:" who protects university from security domination".
 
As for Mansoura University, names of 133 students were stricken off. Consequently, more than on thousand students staged a protest march against striking their names off the elections. Security forces that besieged the university, bullies groups and security vetted cameramen were on alert during the protest. They wanted to intimidate students during their three-hour march, starting from the Faculty of Medicine across the faculty of veterinary medicine, faculty of pharmacy and ending with the faculty of education .
 
The students chanted slogans in the demonstration to expose the security control over the university, including:" Who rules the faculty? Is it the dean or the Interior Ministry??", and "State security out…out…our university will be always free".
 
After that, the students staged a sit in in front of the University President"s office. This sit-in ended at 3.00PM.
 
 
As for Helwan and Ain Shams universities, both universities were very quiet and they witnessed no reaction against striking off names of the students.
 
 
At Cairo University, the university administration has stricken off names of all candidates affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in all of the faculties. This made MB students stage a sit-in starting from 8.00AM at the obelisk (in front of the main university gate). Then, they entered the campus after the special forces and bullies equipped with cold steels started to harass them.
 
The sit-in that continued until the afternoon ended after Cairo university president, Dr. Ali Abdul Rahman met MB students and promised the to study their demands including housing the Muslim Brotherhood students in the university dormitory and allowing them to form groups. However, He informed them that he will not restore names of the student who were stricken off the election lists and he will only show the legal reason for this action, if there is any.
 
 
Meanwhile, a committee has been formed of teaching staff members across the political and intellectual spectrum to protect rights of students and to issue a file about the elections to include the flagrant violations through a fact-finding committee. This committee will after that meet the University President to take the required measures to protect rights of students in having a private thought and the representation they want in the student union.
 
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Ikhwanweb correspondents at Mansoura, Zagazig and Ikhwanweb correspondent in Cairo, Aya Al Feqi contributed to this report .