Anti-government protest rallies are taking place at universities across Egypt a day after a student was killed in Cairo.
On Tuesday, student protesters gathered on university campuses to denounce the death of their fellow at Cairo University.
The students also used the event to call for the release of their fellow peers detained during the crackdown.
The killing occurred as police fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse the protesters at the Cairo University campus on Monday. Dozens of people, including a journalist, were also injured in the crackdown.
The fierce clashes at university campuses have been the latest in a new wave of bloody crackdown against anti-military students.
The latest protest rallies come after Egypt’s former defense minister, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, officially submitted his bid to run for president.
Sisi led the overthrow of former president, Mohamed Morsi, suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament in July last year. He is also accused of leading a severe crackdown against the supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The army-backed government has detained hundreds of students since former president was ousted. More than 500 people have also been handed death sentences and hundreds of others have been handed lengthy jail terms.
The students are also calling for the release of all the detained students and the dismissal of police guards from universities.
Several international bodies and the UN Human Rights Council have expressed concern over the Egyptian security forces’ heavy-handed crackdown and the killing of peaceful anti-government protesters.
According to the UK-based rights group, Amnesty International, 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence since Morsi’s ouster in July last year, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”
JR/PR/SL
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