One student at Cairo's Al-Azhar University campus was killed when riot police moved into school grounds on Saturday to break up pro-Morsi protesters who planned to boycott university exams taking place today and Sunday, the Associated Press reported.
The police fired tear gas and broke up a group of students protesting the recent move by government which made the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group subject to anti-terrorism penalties under law, according to the AP.
"The aim of the terrorist Brotherhood group is to call off university exams," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education Hossam Eissa said, according to the AP. He added that "the role of the government is to restore security especially before the referendum on the constitution."
Earlier this week, the Egyptian government began an extreme approach to control growing protests and violence before Jan 14-15 when a constitutional referendum, which officials deem will be a milestone in their transition plan, will take place, the AP reported.
According to Egyptian officials, university professors said protesting students were blocking off entrances to the school and terrorizing students as they made their way inside, according to the AP.
The interior Ministry said students then went into the school buildings shooting into the air and smashing furniture, the AP reported. Authorities also claim the protesting students set the Faculty of Commerce building within the university on fire.
Student spokeswoman Aya Fathy argues these claims are false and stated the students who were protesting were doing so peacefully when riot police stormed in firing "indiscriminately" at the protesters and students, killing one student named Khaled el-Haddad, the AP reported.
Fathy also said the riot police were chasing students who were on campus and are the ones responsible for setting the building aflame, only blaming it on the protestors in order to make the group seem violent, the AP reported.
The Brotherhood denies the labeling of the political group as terrorist and have sworn off violence for decades, but the Human Rights Watch said that since the crackdown on the group which killed hundreds of members arresting hundreds more, the group members have begun to fight back in order to protect themselves, according to the AP.
The human rights group also added the labeling of the group as terrorists was "politically motivated," and the consequences could affect health and education services which is provided by the Brotherhood to its members, the AP reported.
The Brotherhood released a statement on Friday accusing Egyptian security officials and intelligence of "committing terrorism"to frame the group, according to the AP.
