Students' protests sweep Egypt

The Economist Intelligence Unit has issued a report on Saturday saying that Egyptian universities and schools have witnessed 1,122 students’ protests since the commencement of the academic year in September.

The Unit’s Democracy Index report said that during November, Egypt’s educational institutions witnessed a remarkable upsurge in the students’ protests where nearly 511 protests have been staged with an average of 17 protests a day; recording an increase of 26 per cent compared to October when 378 protests were staged.

The report explained that “Al Azhar University topped the list of academic institutions with 101 students’ protests in November followed by the University of Cairo with 52 protests, while the University of Alexandria came third with 46 protests, and the University of Helwan fourth with 34 protests.”

According to the report, the main demand of the students’ protests in November was for the release of university professors who had been arrested during protests in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

The students’ political demands represented 88 per cent of the total demands in November, while educational issues represented 12 per cent. The educational demands included admission procedures, transfer procedures to other universities and reduction of students’ accommodation fees.

The report explained that the protests usually began peacefully before erupting into violence, which resulted in the deaths of two students, injury of several others and burning of several police vehicles in November. In total, there have been 67 clashes between students and police.