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Egypt: Police storm university after student siege

FILE - In this May 16, 2011, file photo, Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's new political party, speaks during an interview at the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt's Interior Ministry says el-Erian has been arrested after months on the run. The ministry says the deputy leader of the Brotherhood's political arm was captured early Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, in an eastern Cairo suburb. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces have stormed the main building of an Islamic university in Cairo after students who support the country’s ousted president besieged and attacked the offices of the university’s chief administrator.

FILE – In this May 16, 2011, file photo, Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s new political party, speaks during an interview at the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt’s Interior Ministry says el-Erian has been arrested after months on the run. The ministry says the deputy leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm was captured early Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, in an eastern Cairo suburb. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

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

The students’ assault came hours after security forces arrested a key figure of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s leading Islamist group from which ousted President Mohammed Morsi also hails.

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, says the students stormed the offices, trashed documents and computers to “sabotage and destroy the university.”

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