Cairo: Al Azhar University, believed to be a bastion of Islamists in Egypt, has toughened anti-protest measures after the state-run seat of learning experienced last year deadly violence, which authorities blamed on students backing the ousted Islamic president Mohammad Mursi. In the run-up to the new academic year set to begin in October, officials in Al Azhar said that politics would be banned on the campus and dormitories, threatening “troublemaking” students and lecturers with expulsion. Egyptian universities, mainly Al Azhar and Cairo University, have been rocked by violent protests in the months that followed the army’s overthrow of Mursi, a senior leader in the Muslim Brotherhood.

A dozen students were killed in clashes between protesting students and police. Meanwhile, hundreds were arrested and several of them expelled allegedly for involvement in violence.

On Wednesday, 16 Al Azhar students, including four females, were given four years in prison each on such charges.

“Al Azhar University was targeted by systematic violence and subversion because it is a key symbol of Egypt,” said Mohammad Abu Hashem, the university’s vice president.

He estimated the cost of repairing the damage done to the university’s facilities and dormitories at nearly LE100 million (around Dh50 million).

“Studies at Al Azhar will start on October 11 as already announced and there is no intention to postpone this,” Abu Hashem told private TV CBC. “No political activity will be allowed. At the same time, the university administration has enhanced security with 1,000 more security personnel. In the beginning, we’ll depend on the administrative guards to keep security on the campus and inside the dormitories. But we may summon police if the necessity arises.”

Egyptian government has approved amendments to a law related to Al Azhar University, toughening penalties against protesters.

The amendments empowers the university’s authorities to expel students and teaching staffers found guilty of inciting or participating in “disruptive demonstrations or smuggling weapons and explosives into the campus or the dormitories,” semi-official newspaper Al Ahram reported on Thursday.

Prime Minister Ebrahim Mehleb this week vowed that authorities will deal firmly with any violent protest inside universities.

Last month, the Ministry of Higher Education delayed the start of studies at the state-run universities by two weeks from September 27 to October 11, citing incomplete maintenance works at some dorms damaged in last year’s unrest. Smart entry IDs will be issued this year for students to prevent strangers from having access to universities.

Higher education authorities have also set stricter conditions for students applying to stay in the dorms apparently to keep Islamists at bay.

The self-styled anti-military grouping, Students against the Coup, has condemned the new measures as oppressive.

“These steps are aimed at oppressing students’ freedom and signal that the new academic year will be held under the eyes of the military,” the grouping said in a statement.

The new measures are unlikely to stop pro-Brotherhood students from defying the government of President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, an ex-army chief who led Mursi’s toppling in July of 2013.

“With the majority of the Brotherhood leaders being either in jail or on the run, students are the last card for the group to cause trouble to Al Sissi,” said Salah Al Hadi, a political expert.

“On the other hand, authorities seem determined not to allow the violence that marred last academic year to happen again. Since he took office (in June), President Al Sissi has been resolved about re-establishing the state authority. Therefore, his government will not relent in confronting rioting students.”