Three Killed in Clashes As Morsi Loyalists Keep Protesting

At least three, including a teenager, were killed on Friday after supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi took to the streets to protest his ouster.

The day unfolded with nationwide clashes that saw pro-Morsi demonstrators, whose numbers were significantly lower than previous weeks, battling security forces and their political opponents.

A demonstrator was killed in Fayoum, south of Cairo, after a pro-Morsi protest was dispersed by security forces. The death was later confirmed by the health ministry’s media advisor Ahmed Kamel.

Later in the day, medical sources confirmed to Ahram Online another death in the canal city of Ismailia. They also reported that a teenage student named Taha Youssef had been killed in Upper Egypt’s Menya.

Kamel added that eight demonstrators were injured throughout the day. The health ministry’s reports cover the clashes from 9am to 5pm.

Early Friday morning, two improvised bombs were hurled at a Central Security Forces (CSF) truck on Giza Bridge, west Cairo. No deaths were reported, but Giza central security head Mostafa Ragaei said in a televised interview with TV channel CBC that at least two CSF personnel had been confirmed injured.

In Greater Cairo, security forces dispersed dozens of protesters in Nasr City and Helwan, reported Al-Ahram’s Arabic website. In Matariya district, hundreds of protesters were dispersed using teargas when they tried to block traffic.

Supporters of Morsi clashed with locals in Sudan Street in Mohandiseen, while marching and chanting slogans against the police and the military. Several shops in the area, which has regularly witnessed clashes over the past months, sustained damages in the melee.

Clashes also erupted in Cairo’s Alf Maskan district between supporters of Morsi and army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who is widely tipped to be Egypt’s next president.

Both sides exhanged stones, lit fireworks and Molotov cocktails, until police stepped in amidst the escalating violence, according to Al-Ahram and state-run MENA.

Another pro-Morsi march heading to Media Production City in the eastern Cairo suburb of 6 October City was dispersed by security forces.

The media hub was the site of a pro-Brotherhood sit-in last year while Morsi was still in office, with the protesters rallying against what they said was an overly-critical bias against Morsi from TV presenters at the city’s various studios.

Security forces on Friday had anticipated the march and were on hand in large numbers. According to Al-Ahram, protesters attacked security forces with fireworks and were met with teargas. Several protesters were later arrested.

Seperately in 6 October City, unknown assailants torched a police officer’s private car.

In the towns of Agamy, Siouf and Abu Soliman in the governorate of Alexandria, pro-Morsi protesters clashed with opponents before security forces interfered, dispersing the crowds and arresting several people.

In Nile Delta’s Sharqiya district several protests also took place. In the towns of Minya El-Qamh, Zagazeeg, Abu-Kebir, Hahya, Faqous and Al-Husseineya, protesters demanded the reinstatement of Morsi, who was ousted last summer, carrying banners holding the pro-Morsi Rabaa symbol.

In Damietta, a small pro-Morsi protest was quickly dispersed by opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails.

The Muslim Brotherhood-led National Alliance to Support Legitimacy had called for the protests earlier in the week.

Morsi’s supporters have been staging regular protests across the nation since his ouster. A security crackdown has caused their numbers to dwindle over the past months.

Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi demonstrated in Alexandria’s Qaed Ibrahim district, demanding that the general run for the presidency. The demonstrators carried pictures of the army chief and banners reading “El-Sisi is my president” and denouncing the Brotherhood.

Source: Ahram Online