CAIRO, Oct 22 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's prosecution ordered on Wednesday the referral of three Azhar University students "who belong to the Muslim Brotherhood" to a criminal court on charges of staging protests on-campus. 

The defendants are accused of violating the protest law, joining an armed terrorist group and rioting. 

Security forces arrested students "who chanted against the army and the police and raised banners that had slogans offensive to the police and the University head" last week, according to the prosecution.

Universities have seen protests by students demanding the release of detained colleagues, especially Azhar and Cairo Universities, since the beginning of the new academic year earlier in October. The protests usually escalated in scuffles between the protesting students and security forces.

Last academic year, Egyptian universities have witnessed unprecedented violence throughout, with at least 16 students killed amid on-campus protests, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression's Student Observatory.

A law passed in November forbids Egyptians from holding demonstrations without a permit from the authorities. 

According to the protest law, assembly organisers must notify the concerned security authorities with their plans for assembly at least three working days in advance. The law also grants the ministry of interior the right to cancel, move or postpone assemblies.

The pro-Mohamed Mursi "Students against the coup" movement has been organising protests against the former Islamist president's military ouster throughout the past academic year.