Update: 15 MB students arrested in Alexandria after fatal clashes
Courtesy: Amr Khallaf, Facebook
 

Fifteen Brotherhood students were arrested in Alexandria following clashes that left one student dead. Police forces say the students were involved in the violence.

Student Amr Khallaf was killed during a protest inside the campus of Alexandria University, allegedly by police forces, vice president of the university’s student union Baher Adel told Mada Masr.

Khallaf, who was originally from Al-Azhar University’s Faculty of Education at the Cairo branch, was participating in a march organized by the Brotherhood-affiliated Students Against the Coup (SAC) coalition against the military-backed interim government.

Adel said that the march was touring the university as snipers, allegedly belonging to police forces, were stationed in a building in front of the university. Khallaf was inside the grounds of the campus when he was shot.

Five students were also injured as a result of the clashes, according to the Ministry of Health.

Students shared the graphic photo of the deceased student on social media, along with his Facebook profile picture, with the caption “I’m waiting my turn.”

“It feels so strange to protest in a place that you’re visiting for the first time. In the name of God we shall start,” Khallaf said in the last status post on his Facebook page.

Spokesperson of Alexandria Security Directorate Khaled el-Azzazi said that police forces were preparing to enter Alexandria University campus, alleging that Khallaf was killed amid clashes between Brotherhood students and independent students, the official Middle East News Agency said.

Azzazi added that police were coordinating with university administration regarding entry to campus to contain the protest, claiming that 150 students belonging to the Brotherhood were demonstrating in front of the Faculty of Commerce, when they allegedly used Molotov cocktails and fireworks while clashing with other students.

Fierce clashes have escalated between the students of the deposed Islamist group and security forces in several universities across Egypt, with the most vicious taking place at Al-Azhar University, followed by Cairo and Mansoura Universities.

Khallaf is the seventh student to be killed — allegedly by police forces — since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July. Four of them were killed at Al-Azhar University and two at Cairo University.

The Ministry of Interior has repeatedly denied that its forces are responsible for killing students, adding that security only intervened to disperse Brotherhood-organized protests that disturbed classes and examinations across universities.

Meanwhile, a census by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), claimed 510 students have been arrested since the Morsi’s ouster, 211 of whom are from Al-Azhar University alone.

Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim addressed the students during a Cabinet meeting in early December, urging them not to be “dragged behind those who want to cause rifts in the country.” Ibrahim said he would not dare to use weapons against the students, and that he would “cut off [his] hand before this happens,” privately owned daily newspaper Al-Shorouk reported Wednesday.

“I continue to be very patient with them, but the students have to realize that what is happening is a conspiracy to reinstate the Brotherhood back into the political scene,” he said, adding that the students are the ones attacking security forces.

*An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Front to Defend Egypt Protesters reported that five students were injured. The story has now been corrected to reflect that the Ministry of Health reported that five students were injured.

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