The management closed the doors and evacuated their employees leaving inside only the summer students. A number of female students were injured or fainted when they tried to force their way in. The students stranded inside called their families for help.
When the parents arrived and found overcrowding in front of the university, they also tried to force their way in. When they could not get in, they started smashing windows.
Eyewitnesses told Arab News that they tried to break the windows to get their daughters out. Several ambulances arrived to pick up injured students.
Muna Muhammad was one of the students stranded inside the university. She was writing her exams when she heard that the university faculty was being evacuated. Students went to the exit gate and found it closed.
Some students contacted their parents, who arrived and were angry to see the gates closed. Muna, who is pregnant, sustained minor injuries and was sent to hospital.
Thamer Al-Harbi, university undersecretary for educational affairs, said the administration had notified the parents who arrived to register their daughters that the varsity could not process their requests. The final day to register was last Wednesday. A source from Makkah police said the cops were present at the scene the moment the problem started, and the situation was brought under control.
Last Wednesday, students who were not able to get seats at the university started a ruckus. About 300 would-be students, some with accompanying mothers, congregated at the enrollment office after they learned that all seats had been taken for the next semester.
Undersecretary for enrollment Ameena Rice had stated earlier that the admissions process on the first-come-first-served basis started as usual last Wednesday. Two hundred students were enrolled in specialized majors until the seats were filled.
