Cairo U students march against fees طلاب حركة حقي يتظاهرون ضد زيادة المصاريف at 3arabawy

Cairo U students march against fees طلاب حركة حقي يتظاهرون ضد زيادة المصاريف

Published by Hossam el-Hamalawy November 19th, 2008 in Activism, Education, Egypt مصر, Human Rights حقوق إنسان, Left يسار, Photos صور, Police شرطة, Students

Police troops surrounded Cairo University today, as hundreds of students demonstrated against the rising education fees…

After distributing leaflets and engaging with fellow students in discussions over the state of economy and education in Egypt, the Socialist-led Haqqi (My Right) mobilized hundreds in a march…

Protestors denounced Mubarak, his son Gamal, the Education Minister and the entire cabinet… The students marched from one faculty campus to the other, calling on their colleagues to join, while the chants continued…

The Muslim Brotherhood students were not seen anywhere, but all over the trees they had hung banners encouraging students to pray, part of their recently launched morality crusade on university campuses…

Members of the govt-appointed Student Union were as always present, and tried to disrupt the march, by waving the Egyptian flag, playing on drums, and chanting football slogans. No scuffles took place though.

High ranking police officers showed up and were following the protestors. They didn’t go for the organizers, but were trying to disperse “ordinary students” and separate them from the “activists.”

The Haqqi students were quite militant, directing their march sometimes to surround those officers and denounce them in their faces, and shouting they would not be intimidated…

The march last for over an hour, and ended in an assembly by the university gate, where Haqqi announced they were launching “Don’t Pay!” campaign…

4 Responses to “Cairo U students march against fees طلاب حركة حقي يتظاهرون ضد زيادة المصاريف”

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1 arabist Nov 19th, 2008 at 10:37 pm

Can you elaborate on the main demands of the students, or what caused them specifically to mount this protest? Was there an unusual rise in student fees or change in fee policy this year, or is this a more general protest against the quality of education, security presence on campus, general political and economic situation?
2 Hossam el-Hamalawy Nov 19th, 2008 at 11:01 pm

I hope the Haqqi students post online the statement they distributed today on campus coz it has all the details (in Arabic of course). But basically, the central fight is around the unconstitutional rise in education fees. Fees should not exceed LE12.25, while in effect the students are paying over LE200. A lawsuit was filed recently in the Administrative Court by one of Haqqi students against the University administration, and is currently looked into. Next session is 1 Dec.
But of course, one you start mobilizing around an issue, other related issues come up, like the state of the economy, police presence on campus, torture, labor strikes, etc..
3 arabist Nov 20th, 2008 at 11:38 am

Thanks.
4 David Karvala Nov 21st, 2008 at 9:50 am

Students across Catalonia protested yesterday against the “Bologna Plan”, the European plan to privatise and mercantilise universities.

After their demonstrations were attacked by the police, especially in Barcelona, they occupied the Universities. Barcelona University is today under student occupation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgZgsimCkY

http://www.kaosenlared.net/media/9/9992_0_nobolonyamanibcn20n08dat6.jpg

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