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Egyptian police storm Al Azhar varsity after student siege

Students who support Mursi besiege and attack offices of the prestigious university's chief administrator.

Egyptian security forces have stormed the main building of Al Azhar Islamic university in Cairo after students who support the country’s ousted president besieged and attacked the offices of the university’s chief administrator.

According to reports on Egyptian media, the police responded to a call for help from the university chief of Al Azhar on Wednesday.

“Police entered “the Al Azhar University campus following a request from the university’s head Dr Osama Al Abd to defend lives and public property,” said the interior ministry.

The police had obtained permission from the state prosecutor before doing so, it added in a statement.

A police general said it was the first time police had entered a university since a 2010 court ruling banned guards belonging to the interior ministry from operating on their grounds.

The students’ assault came hours after security forces arrested a key figure of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mustafa El Agrawi, Al Azhar’s legal adviser, told the ONTV private channel that the students besieged the administrative building, locking up the university chief and several other administrators.

Ahmed Hosni, deputy head of Al Azhar, said the students stormed the offices, trashed documents and computers to “sabotage and destroy the university.”