Pro-Morsi demonstrators tear gassed

[iolsa]

Cairo - Egyptian security forces on Monday fired tear gas to disperse students protesting in support of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, security officials said.

The protesters marched outside the campus of Al-Azhar University  in Cairo and blocked a main road as they chanted against the military that overthrew Morsi in July amid massive protests against  his rule.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, as police fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse the students.

By late afternoon soldiers had dispersed the protesters and reopened the road, littered with stones and tear gas canisters, an AFP correspondent said.

As police and Morsi opponents have violently broken up Islamist protests on the streets, supporters of the ousted president have sought to regroup on campuses to press their demand for his reinstatement.

Demonstrations took place last week at the universities of Al-Azhar and Cairo, where scuffles broke out between supporters and  opponents of Morsi.

The military ousted Morsi on July 3 after millions took to the streets demanding his resignation one year after he became the country's first freely elected president.

More than 1 000 people, mostly Morsi's backers, were killed in clashes in an ensuing crackdown on the former president's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Another 2 000 people, mostly Islamists, have been detained.

Morsi, held at an unknown location since his removal, is to stand trial next month over deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents outside the presidential palace in December 2012.

Sapa-AFP

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