Cairo campus set ablaze as protesters, police clash

 

Egyptian student protesters who back the Muslim Brotherhood are accused of torching the cafeteria of a Cairo university, state media reported.


The protesting students allegedly stormed the colleges of trade, engineering and science at Azhar University on Saturday and set fire to its cafeteria, according to the official MENA news agency.

Authorities arrested 60 students, the Ministry of the Interior told state-run Nile TV. The protesters were armed with Molotov cocktails and other weapons, the ministry said.

One student was killed in the violence, the Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement.

The Brotherhood said security forces, "in an attempt to silence any voice of opposition," fired tear gas, live bullets and birdshot at the protesting students.

Students at the university have been on "strike" following the killings of students and professors by security forces, the Muslim Brotherhood said.

The clash at the university is the latest in a string of incidents between security forces and backers of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Egyptian government this week declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

The government has threatened to arrest anyone who attends Muslim Brotherhood protests or provides financial support to the organization, an Islamist group which helped propel ousted President Mohamed Morsy to power.

Morsy, the nation's first democratically elected president, was forced out of office in July by the nation's military and arrested following widespread protests and petitions calling for his removal.

Detractors said he was a tyrant trying to impose conservative values. Supporters called his removal a coup and a blow to the democratic movement that toppled former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

In clashes in Cairo on Friday, at least three people died and 265 were arrested.