They won't be part of the regular security forces, but they will get guns.
They are less accountable than regular security forces and, many witnesses said, were far more violent on Saturday.
Students said they remained fearful of a repeat of the ferocious assaults, which the regular security forces, although surrounding them, appeared powerless to prevent.
Gunmen with Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades fired shots at his headquarters in reaction to a demand that they either join the regular security forces or hand over the weapons.
The government warned that it would step up the pressure on the opposition from its regular security forces if it continued to stage demonstrations.
Its director, Rami Abdulrahman, said his researchers had recorded the deaths of 4,851 people in January, of whom 1,030 were members of the Syrian regular security forces while 3,305 were civilians or rebel irregulars.
"The regular security forces had entered the dormitories to protect us, but they only had a few batons, and they said they were not going to hang around tonight".
Regular security forces stood back and urged protesters to go home to avoid bloodshed, while the feared pro-government militia, the Basij, beat protesters with clubs and, witnesses said, electric prods.
Plans to fold former insurgents into Iraq's regular security forces have slowed down too, raising fears that the "Sons of Iraq", the mainly Sunni tribal militias who turned the tide against jihadists linked to al-Qaeda in the past year or so, may become rebels again.In public, Mr Maliki sounds confident.
If not a total crackdown, Israeli officials are at least asking for actions including the shutdown of rocket factories in the Gaza Strip, a ban on Palestinians who are not in the regular security forces carrying weapons, and the arrest of anyone that Israel or the C.I.A. defines as planning a terrorist attack.
