Sana’a University Students on Strike [Archives:1999/48/Front Page]

SANAA: Thousands of Sana’a university students staged an extensive strike and demonstration in the courtyard of the university’s general administration on Sunday, November 28. The students chanted slogans demanding the dissolution of the general union of Yemeni students. They accused some hardline students of practicing reckless and irresponsible acts against students of the College of Sciences on Wednesday, 24 November, 1999. The incident took place when students of the college were preparing to hold a reception party welcoming the new students at the hall of “Gamal Abdul Naser” when large numbers of hardline university students locked some of them inside the hall and prevented others from entering it. 
The students of the college decided to cancel the party just to calm down the situation. But the other students attacked them and started beating them and threatened to use firearms. A girl student was attacked and beaten in the incident. 
That incident sparked anger among other university students who staged the Sunday strike and demonstration. 
Demonstrating students demanded that the reception party must be held again. They also put forth demands for suspending activities of the general union of Yemeni students at the university and supporting the call for a sit-in inside the university campus. 
Some university students talked about the incidents expressing their anger and regret about them. The student Jihad Alghouri said the incidents of Wednesday represented violations of ideals, values and ethics manifested in the spirit of Islam and its sublime principles. They also violate respect of others’ freedom. He has called on the university administration to resolutely stand against the demagogic practices carried out by some students. 
Another student said the rights of university students are not observed and the problems and the incidents against the college of sciences students clearly prove the weakness of the students’ union. She said that difference in opinions had led to the staging of the sit-in today. 
The student Yassemin Salem Ba Mashmous, sister of one of the injured students expressed her regret for what happened to her brother, who is a student at the College of Sciences, last Wednesday. She said she was sorry for the dangerous deterioration of the university students’ condition and the practices against him by a group that respects neither itself nor others. 
Dr. Abdulazziz Almaqaleh addressed the sit-in strikers confirming that the reception party would be held and he would attend it. He promised to cancel activities of the university branch of the students’ union. All the students responsible for the riot incident would be dealt with by a disciplinary committee and and they would speed up the holding of student elections.
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