Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Cairo Uni Clashes: Round II

Students and Central Security Forces butt heads once again around Cairo University Campus, in a cloud of tear gas. Words by Conor Shiels, photos by Eihab Boraie.

Staff Writer

Dozens of protestors are being treated at a makeshift hospital following a controversial police crackdown at a Cairo University protest.

Exclusive CairoScene images show police officers forming a 'kettle' around the area near the university's Faculty of Engineering while firing multiple rounds of teargas at the captive crowd. Kettling, a tactic designed to stop the largely peaceful protestors leaving the scene of a demonstration has been criticised by human rights groups worldwide.

Meanwhile, photos also showed demonstrators injured by birdshot pellets as university officials were forced to set up a makeshift field hospital to deal with the chaos. Relatives and family members desperately pleaded with police officers as students struggled to escape the cordon and the chaos within. This ordeal comes just hours after thirteen Egyptian and international human rights organisations on Tuesday urged Cairo's military-installed authorities to probe the mass killing of Islamist protesters in the capital on August 14th.

The protestors are believed to represent a cross section of anti-coup groups, demonstrating against recent harsh laws introduced by the military. The demonstration began late on Tuesday afternoon amid tense scenes as protestors chanted anti military slogans.

The tension came to a head when police began firing tear gas cannisters at demonstrators in a move typical of a recent crackdown on unlicensed protests in the capital.

Unconfirmed reports also claimed that a satellite TV journalist was injured by factions within the group while covering the demonstration. The news comes just hours after Amnesty International released a report criticising hardline tactics employed by the security forces when dealing with largely peaceful protests.

The report said: “If the authorities are serious in their commitment to human rights, they need to stop arresting opposition activists, hold security forces accountable for killing, injuring and torturing protesters, and take real steps to combat sexual harassment of and assaults on women and girls.” Seven protestors have reported to have been arrested so far.

Check out exclusive footage below...

Update: string of senior Cairo University chiefs including the Dean of the Engineering faculty have quit in response to yesterday's brutal police crackdown on campus and the semester will finish early.