CAIRO: Egyptian police fired teargas at protesting students at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University on Wednesday hours after authorities announced the detention of Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El-Erian, part of a crackdown against the movement.

Erian, deputy leader of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party, was taken into custody from a residence in New Cairo where he had been in hiding, an Interior Ministry source told Reuters.

At the Al-Azhar university’s main campus, students smashed windows, hurled chairs and covered walls of an administrative building with graffiti.

“Down, down with the army,” one protester scribbled.

One police officer yelled: “Arrest anyone you see. Bring me those kids. If you see anyone just arrest them right away.”

Students at Egypt’s top institution for Islamic teachings have demonstrated for weeks in support of the Mursi, whom the army toppled in July after mass protests against his rule. Demonstrations there are a sensitive matter because the institution has historically toed the government line.