U.S. Students Evacuate Egypt

U.S. college students are being pulled from Egypt following the country’s recent political unrest, according to an article from U.S. Today,

The U.S. State Department ordered non-essential U.S. government personnel and their families to “evacuate due to ongoing political and social unrest” on July 3, 2013. “Demonstrations have, on occasion, degenerated into violent clashes between police and protesters, and between protesters supporting different factions, resulting in deaths, injuries, and extensive property damage. Participants have thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails and security forces have used tear gas and other crowd control measures against demonstrators. There are numerous reports of the use of firearms as well,” the Travel Warning read.

Most education groups and universities have followed the government’s advisory, as the turmoil in Egypt worsens.

“Millions of Egyptians have taken to the streets in the days leading up to and following Wednesday’s military ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi,” U.S. Today reported. American student Andrew Pochter (read his story here) was fatally stabbed during a protest on June 28, 2013.

Europ Assistance USA, an organization that provides emergency travel assistance to organizations, is helping students evacuate Egypt. These students are typically moved to study abroad programs in other countries.

President of the Center for International Learning in Oman, J. Larry Brown, said that his center has been overwhelmed by the number of calls from students and institutions as Egypt, Turkey and Syria have grown more dangerous for American students studying abroad.

It would be prudent for student programs to avoid countries where the U.S.
Department of State has issued Travel Alerts, as these Travel Alerts can quickly turn into more serious Travel Warnings (read more about Travel Alerts and Travel Warnings here.)