University Students Protest Against Government in Egypt, One Killed

A student protester was killed on Thursday in clashes at Cairo University between supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and security forces, after police fired tear gas and buckshot at demonstrators.

Hundreds of students from Cairo University staged a march in the square outside the university's gates, and were dispersed by police using water cannon and tear gas.

Egyptian protesters chant slogans in Talaat Harb Square in Cairo, Egypt, against the issuance of a new law regulating demonstrations, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013.

The students were protesting against harsh new restrictions on the right to protest recently adopted by the military-backed interim government that ousted democratically-elected Morsi.

Many of them were particularly incensed by harsh severe prison sentences handed down to female protesters in Alexandria on Wednesday.

​During the protest, students made the four fingered Raba'a symbol, which shows solidarity with the hundreds of protesters killed by security forces in August. They also chanted 'Down with military rule!'

Former President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in July, following mass protests against him. A crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has killed over 1,000 protesters and led the imprisonment of thousands.

Egyptian women supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi stand inside the defendants' cage in a courtroom in Alexandria, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2013.

An Alexandria court jailed 14 women for 11 years for obstructing traffic during a protest by supporters of Morsi that took place late last month. Seven other women under the age of 18 were sent to a juvenile prison.

Also today, supporters of Morsi marched from Alexandria University to the nearby Alexandria Court Complex where yesterday's judgment was handed down. Riot police fired tear gas into the crowd in Alexandria, with some students suffering from tear gas inhalation.

The protesters in Alexandria were also joined by some liberal student activists in a rare show of solidarity.

The government passed a law last Sunday (November 24) restricting demonstrations.

Thursday's protest followed scuffles between protesters and security forces in the northern port city on Wednesday during a demonstration against the new law and against the arrest of 24 activists including prominent pro-democracy campaigners Ahmed Maher and Alaa Abdel Fattah, the state news agency MENA said.
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