Minor Clashes In Alexandria, Sharqiya Injure 10

At least four security personnel were injured in attacks in the northern governorates of Alexandria and Sharqiya on Friday, as Islamist protesters held small-scale anti-government protests in towns around Egypt.

In total three people have been killed and 16 injured in political violence on Friday, health ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar told Ahram Online.

Calls by an ultraconservative group, the Salafist Front, for an “Islamic uprising” on Friday had created apprehension that larger-scale protests may occur. Security around the country was heightened as a result.

In the city of Alexandria, a junior military officer was severely injured after being shot at from the roof of a residential building amid clashes between security forces and hundreds of Islamist protesters, a military source told Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

A police conscript was also injured during the clashes.

In Sharqiya governorate, eight people were injured after an improvised bomb was thrown at a police vehicle, Abdel-Ghaffar said. Two were security personnel, while the other six were civilians.

Two officers were killed in drive-by shootings earlier in the day, one in the capital and one in the nearby Qalioubiya governorate, while a man was shot dead in clashes at a protest in Matariya in eastern Cairo.

Several towns and villages in the Nile Delta’s Sharqiya governorate saw protests where hundreds of demonstrators raised pictures of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi along with copies of the Quran, Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website reported.

Minor clashes were also reported between police forces and protesters in several towns in Upper Egypt’s Minya governorate, known for its widespread Islamist support.

Several shops belonging to Coptic Christians were also vandalised in the town of Malawi in Minya, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Source : Ahram online