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After the 2013 military coup of president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, student protests broke out across Egypt on university campuses where hundreds of students gathered at universities such as Al-Azhar and Cairo University; Ain Shams University; and Alexandria University. Student protests in Egypt have become a powerful tool for students in mobilising protests and voicing their discontent, these protests were peaceful. Many political student union elections have emerged to mobilise against pro-government candidates of Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s new regime and also the Muslim Brotherhood has itself integrated in university campuses to gain support from the youth.

The new protest law in November 2013 by president Sisi, the Egyptian government's crackdown on dissent, demonstrated to take punitive action against protesters, sentencing a minimum of two-year imprisonment for offenses such as "violation of public order’’. University campuses were one of the last remaining spaces for dissent. However, the demonstrations have led to many clashes between students and security forces and turned the universities into a new violent battleground. Soon, all political activity and demonstrations at university campuses were banned. Cairo University, the country’s eminently secular higher education institution, has banned all political activity. Students of Al-Azhar University had to sign a form agreeing not to engage in any political activities at the university. Students have been brutality attacked, detained and killed by security forces. Any form of student activism is prohibited and strictly controlled and monitored by security forces in all university spaces. Moreover, any political affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood is not allowed.

Background
The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي) the mass demonstrations of 2011 that shook up the entire Middle East, ended the 30-year rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the fall of Mubarak led to the first democratic elections, the winner and successor Mohamed Morsi remained in power for a year, after he was removed from power by Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and installed his authoritarian military rule. Since Sisi came to power, the regime has proven to be unable to communicate rightly with the youth. During the 2014 elections in May for Sisi the Youth turnout was low, a sharp contrast to the high participation of youth voters, to a lesser extent as candidates during the parliamentary and presidential election of 2012. Youth dissent will likely increase, this is mainly due to the marginalization of young people in formal politics after the coup, and the high unemployment rates among university graduates which was one of the main factors of discontent during the Arab uprisings of 2011. Many young people will return to the pre-January 2011 state of indifference and resentment. Sisi's authoritarian government has managed to equate the brief post-2011 democratic opening with chaos and dire social and economic conditions.

Demands
Students are demanding change, and are fighting against the crackdown of the state. University campuses are a site of opposition to the new authoritarianism, the new political order, policies, and laws of the Egyptian State after the 2013 military coup. They are protesting for several reasons, one of the main reasons is their strong opposition to the oppressive government of al-Sisi, at the same time they are raising awareness for human rights abuses on universities and elsewhere and asking for the release of all innocent people behind jail and justice for all those that have been killed.

2013 military coup
Since the overthrow of former president Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013, students are expressing their discontent with the current political authoritarian regime of Sisi. The students’ primarily demand is the return of the deposed President Mohamed Morsi. However, over time they also denounced the actions of Egypt's ruling military government against the Muslim Brotherhood. Between 2013 and 2016, student protesters, demonstrated against the ban on the Muslim Brotherhood after its removal from the presidency and against its designation as a terrorist organization. Students condemned the killings of many members and supporters the Muslim Brotherhood in the violent dispersal of sit-ins on August 14, 2013.

Actions and calls for justice
There were 1,677 student protests at public universities across Egypt in the first semester of the academic year of 2013-2014. This decreased in the following academic year 2014-2015 to 572 protests. Students participating in the protests included members of the Muslim Brotherhood and liberal- and leftist-inspired student groups, they gradually began to oppose the regime’s coercive practices. These groups included members from parties such as the Egypt Strong, Bread and Freedom, Constitution, and Movement of Revolutionary Socialists parties. In the 2015–2016 academic year, student activism had drastically declined, due to the strict security measures. However, students who protested did not go unpunished by university authorities and the security services. Although student activism declined, political affiliated movements within the campuses did not, while the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education pushed for the depoliticization of universities, university campuses continued to be a site of opposition and resistance to the authoritarian government where students aspired to reinvigorate student activism. Ultimately, university students continued to challenge the Egyptian government’s undemocratic policies and tactics and universities remained a side of political activism.

Although, Sisi prohibited all political activities on student campuses, not only formal political activities of the Muslim brotherhood or other Islamist parties, but any political activities from political conscious students. Students from several secular opposition groups—the April 6 Youth Movement, the Constitution Party, and the Popular Current— joined Muslim Brotherhood-aligned students to sign a statement on October 12, with this statement they demanded the immediate release of all students who were arrested during the first days of class in the academic year 2013-2014. The group Students Against the Coup had regularly organized protests particularly at Cairo University and al-Azhar. Youth from across the political spectrum organized a hunger-strike campaign. Also, 49 students detained at al-Azhar began an open-ended hunger strike on September 5, 2014. Students were committed to addressing human rights abuses and called for advocacy for students who experienced oppression. They also demanded trials of police and security forces involved in the killing of several students during the protests and called for the immediate release of students arrested and detained for political purposes, as well as the students who had been forcibly disappeared.

Reactions
Egyptian security forces have reacted fiercely and harshly. State-sponsored violence against the student protesters increasedand police brutality continued to take place on the university campuses. The new authoritarian order under Al-Sisi, has maintained a strict control on universities in order to repress student activism. In 2013, the Organisation of Universities Act (Act No 49 of 1972) had been amended by Adly Mansour, the interim president. University authorities could now dismiss students, without trial, who were accused of undermining the educational process, endangering university facilities, targeting members of academic and administrative staff, or inciting violence on campuses. In June, al-Sisi issued a presidential edict allowing him to directly appoint the deans of universities and faculties. The Egyptian government hired own private security firm ‘’Falcon’’ to guard the entrances of 15 universities across Egypt. These new security measures that were put in place employed stricter policies on male and female students mixing and were allowed to search students on the university campus at any time. In the academic year 2014-2015, the security forces operating in university spaces drastically increased. 1,052 students were sent to university disciplinary boards for investigation and more than 600 students were discharged. Dozens more were prevented from taking and completing exams. Hundreds of other students have been expelled from their universities. According to Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, at least 14 students have been killed in protest-related violence, in the 2013-2014 academic year following Morsy’s overthrow. Universities reactions were fierce as they threatened to suspend any students who offended or incited against Sisi or the state in general. Students have been attacked, dismissed, arrested and even killed, most cases les to court proceedings, resulting in harsh sentences.

Human rights violations
Evidence collected by Amnesty international, claimed that, since the start of the academic year in October 2011 student demonstrations have been met with severe and abusive violence. The protests that started as a form of peaceful student activism, shifted towards violence due to Egyptian authorities that used aggressive tools to attack groups of students, as they fired tear gas and shotgun pellets at students when it was not necessary. According to Amnesty international the use of force by security forces is prohibited by international law if it is used in unnecessary circumstances and tear gas should not be fired at protesters inside buildings; however, security forces continued shooting repeatedly pellets and tear gas inside the university buildings. Also, firearms may only be used to protect others against immediate threat of death or serious injury, as a last resort in self-defence. Amnesty calls for the immediate release of students and the dropping of all charges against students arrested solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration on university campuses. Egyptian security forces are known for using arbitrary and abusive force against protesters including students. The Egyptian government must act against this violence used by the security forces. Especially the lack of accountability for such violations, including unlawful killings, gives them the authority to continue to humiliate protesters.