Thousands of Egyptian students, including many from the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood, demonstrated Tuesday at universities across the country, the latest in months of protests demanding political reform and an end to the country's emergency laws. The protests at campuses in Cairo and two other cities were organized by the Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and oldest Islamic political group. The demonstrations were joined by a number of other groups, including supporters of "Kifaya," a growing activist movement calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's rule. "We called for these demonstrations so the political leadership realizes that the youth is in dire need of freedom," Karim Farahat, a student spokesman, said in a statement issued by the Brotherhood.Egypt has seen an unprecedented string of demonstrations — usually numbering in the hundreds — against Mubarak's government since December in a country where direct criticism of the president was long taboo and where most protests focused on international issues such as Iraq or the Palestinians.