Another day of protests in the Egyptian universities, with Mansoura and Helwan coming under police siege from the early morning.
Police cracked down on Mansoura students, kidnapping an activist, by the name Motaz Adel, on his way out of the university following the protests. Another two students were picked up by the gestapo in Alexandria.
UPDATE: Motaz and the two Alexandrian students have been released.
UPDATE: A report by Sarah Carr on yesterday’s Cairo U protest:
Students renewed their demands for free education and an end to the presence of Interior Ministry security forces on university campuses Saturday, during a demonstration at Cairo University.
“Security bodies ban any and all political, cultural and intellectual activity inside universities. They want to create a generation of young people incapable of saying anything except ‘yes’ to Mubarak Senior and Junior,” Mostafa Shawky, a member of the Haqqy (My Right) Socialist student movement said during the protest.
Cairo University student and Haqqy member Ashraf Omar said that the removal of Interior Ministry police from campuses is students’ main priority.
“We want to link student issues with wider issues in Egyptian society.
Students form part of a society and must take part in its political life. So our most pressing demand is the removal of Interior Ministry security forces from campuses so that we can increase student activity,” Omar said.
He linked the Egyptian government’s domestic policy with its position on regional issues.
“The regime which contains us by the ‘remote control’ of its security bodies is the same regime which is placing Palestine under siege,” Omar said.
