CAIRO– Students also inaugurated a new protest campaign, dubbed “12Elsobh” (“12am”), which aims to mark midnight each day with shouts and chants against “military rule.”
In the early hours of Wednesday, pro-democracy students at Al-Azhar University rang in the New Year with fresh protests outside their dormitory compound in eastern Cairo.
According to eyewitnesses, students staged a march in the Nasr City district, chanting slogans against last summer’s ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the military.
They also shouted slogans against the army and police.
Students also inaugurated a new protest campaign, dubbed “12Elsobh” (“12am”), which aims to mark midnight each day with shouts and chants against “military rule.”
As the clock struck midnight, scores of students stood on their dormitory balconies and shouted: “Down with military rule!”
Since Egypt’s academic year began in September, several universities have been rocked by demonstrations against Morsi’s July 3 ouster.
Al-Azhar University – a traditional stronghold of students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails – has seen the most violent protests, with daily rallies often escalating into violent confrontations between students and police.
By Sobhi Mugahed
