Cairo University security guards seized on Sunday three improvised bombs and a Molotov cocktail in front of the Faculty of Economy and Political Science, sources at the university reported to Youm7.The security guards found the bombs while combing the campus, a precautionary procedure that coincides with calls by pro-Muslim Brotherhood students to protest on Sunday, said the source.
Surveillance cameras installed on the campus showed people tossing the bombs in front of the entrance gate to the Faculty of Economy and Political Science, said the sources.
Following the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, students of Cairo, Al-Azhar and Mansoura universities have staged protests and clashed with security forces, resulting in several casualties and hundreds of detentions over the last six months.
Security forces arrested at least 800 students on charges of unlicensed protesting, inciting violence, or disrupting the educational process over the first semester, according to the Ministry of Education. In response to the rising detention rate, university students escalated their demonstrations across the Egyptian universities demanding the release of their colleagues.
As a precautionary measure, Cairo University installed a camera atop the university’s gate to monitor the area surrounding the campus in an attempt to prevent clashes between students and security forces, Deputy Security chief of Cairo University, Yasser Manna told The Cairo Post.
The administration of Ain Shams University also installed 88 WIFI-based surveillance cameras on campus and ordered the fences and gates to be covered with metal sheets to reinforce the security system and prevent any prohibited materials from entering the campus, reported The Cairo Post.
In anticipation of the second semester of the 2013-2014 academic year, the Cabinet and the Supreme Council of Universities floated a controversial proposal in January that would grant judicial power to campus security personnel.
However, Cairo University President Gaber Nassar decided to annul the decision following a meeting with the university’s student union, according to Al Ahram newspaper.
Minister of Justice Adel Abdel Hamid denied that the ministry granted administrative university guards the arrest power, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.
