CAIRO: Egypt's interim rulers gave police on Thursday the power to enter university campuses to quell protests without seeking prior permission, after a student was killed in clashes.
Students who support the new military-installed authorities and those who oppose it have clashed regularly in Cairo and elsewhere since the army ousted President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
The military-installed cabinet said police may now enter campuses "without seeking permissions in case of threats and to confront protests that could harm students."
Previously, police had to obtain permission from the prosecutor general or university authorities before entering campuses or dormitories to deal with demonstrators or fighting.
Thursday's move came after a student was killed overnight at an Al-Azhar University dorm in Cairo's Nasr City district, a security official and a medic said.
The student had been hit by birdshot in the chest and neck.
The clashes were between supporters and opponents of the new army-installed authorities, security officials said, adding that groups of students also confronted each other at Cairo University on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a court in the capital sentenced 38 Al-Azhar University students to 18 months in prison for "participating in violence" at the campus in October, state new agency MENA reported.
The authorities are engaged in a crackdown on Morsi's supporters in which more than 1,000 people have been killed since the middle of August and thousands more arrested.
Among initiatives announced by the cabinet on Thursday was boosting the powers of the police and military to help fight "terrorism."
militants have stepped up attacks in the restive Sinai and have targeted security forces outside the peninsula.
On Wednesday, a car bomb in the Sinai killed 11 soldiers and wounded 34, and another blast in Cairo wounded four policemen.
The Sinai attack was the deadliest in the region bordering Gaza and Israel since an August 19 ambush on a security convoy killed 25 police in the north Sinai town of Rafah.
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