Clashes at Cairo university

A 19-year-old student was shot dead and an administration building torched on Saturday when police took action to disperse students at the Al-Azhar university campus, protesting the military ouster of Islamist President Mohammad Morsi.

Riot police fired tear gas and battled with the demonstrators, who they accused of attempting to disrupt end of term exams, security officials and students said. A further 14 people were injured in the clashes.

According to an Interior Ministry statement, students had stormed several buildings on campus in a bid to "terrorize students and faculty." It said some students fired shots into the air and damaged university property prompting police to move in. Students then set fire to the Faculty of Commerce, the statement said.

Students at Al-Azhar, the site of months of protests against what the Muslim Brotherhood describes a military coup, had called for an exam boycott. However, they deny claims of harassing and intimidating fellow students.

Student spokeswoman Aya Fathy said the protests had been peaceful when the police moved in and begun firing indiscriminately. She accused the police of setting administration building on fire to blame the students.

More than 100 students were reportedly arrested after the fire was brought under control and calm was restored.

Government crackdown

The violence comes a day after three people died and 265 supporters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood were arrested as violent clashes erupted across Egypt following a government crackdown on demonstrations by the group.

Egypt's Interior Ministry said Friday that an 18-year-old Brotherhood supporter was shot dead in the Nile Delta city of Damietta, while another was killed in Minya, south of Cairo. A third person was killed in Cairo.

Earlier this week the pro-Islamist party was blacklisted by the military-backed government as a terrorist organization. All protests demanding Morsi's reinstatement have been banned. Muslim Brotherhood supporters have nevertheless vowed to continue protesting.

"Let's begin with full force and peacefulness, a new wave of majestic anti-coup action," the Brotherhood-led Anti Coup Alliance said in a statement.

Egyptian law states that terrorist-related charges carry the death penalty.

Hundreds of people have been killed across Egypt in a crackdown on the Brotherhood by authorities, which began after Morsi's ouster by the army in July.

jlw, cpp/jr (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)