Cities Of Egypt’s Suez Canal Protest Curfew For 2nd Consecutive Day

The cities of Egypt’s Suez Canal – Suez, Port Said and Ismailia – continued to witness protests on Tuesday against a government-declared state of emergency featuring a daily 9pm-to-6am curfew.

On Sunday night, President Mohamed Morsi announced a state of emergency in the three cities. The move followed violent clashes that erupted on Friday – on the Tahrir Square uprising’s second anniversary – which left more than 39 dead in Port Said, nine dead in Suez and one dead in Ismailia.

Protesters chanted against the emergency measures, slamming President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood group from which he hails.

A solidarity demonstration also took place in Cairo on Tuesday at 9pm, when the curfew goes into effect in the canal cities. Hundreds gathered in downtown Cairo’s Talaat Harb Square for the occasion.

A solidarity football match has also been planned at the same time outside the Presidential Palace in Cairo in imitation of a match held in Ismailia on Tuesday, when city residents played the country’s most popular sport with military personnel who refused to enforce the curfew.

Clashes erupted in Port Said on Saturday when a criminal court sentenced 21 Port Said residents to death for their involvement in last February’s Port Said stadium disaster, in which scores of football fans were killed. Since then, the city has witnessed intense rioting, with residents accusing the central government of scapegoating and marginalising them.

Violence had also erupted earlier in Suez and Ismailia – and in a number of other cities – on the occasion of the Egyptian Revolution’s two-year anniversary on Friday.

Ahram