A 23-year old man was killed in the Egyptian city of Suez and another in Fayoum during clashes between security forces and defiant supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo on Friday.
The Suez emergency department announced that the man sustained a neck wound from live gunshot, passing away in the hospital hours after he sustained the injury. Another injured civilian, the department added, received a gunshot wound in the knee.
Clashes initially broke out in Suez between protesters and unidentified civilians, and the police later became involved.
Authorities have also confirmed that three policemen and three civilians were injured during clashes between protesters and police in Alexandria and Fayoum, Al-Ahram’s Arabic news site reported.
According to the report, one of the injured civilians sustained a live gunshot wound, while the others were injured by birdshot.
Throughout the day on Friday, security forces arrested at least 54 protesters during the dispersal of demonstrations in several Egyptian cities.
In the Cairo neighborhoods of Madinet Nasr, Imbaba, Maadi and Helwan, security forces fired teargas to disperse protests led by supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, under the mandate of Egypt’s recently enacted controversial protest law.
In the Nile Delta city of Ismailia, pro-Morsi protesters gathered in one of the city’s main streets, chanting against the military and police, before being chased away by police forces.
The Pro-Legitimacy and Anti-Coup Coalition, Egypt’s main Islamist alliance, called on its supporters to take to the streets on Friday in solidarity with protesting university students. A number of students have been killed recently during clashes with security forces on university campuses.
Since the beginning of the academic year in September, Egyptian universities have been at the heart of the unrest gripping the country since the 3 July ouster of former president Morsi amid mass popular protests.
Pro-Morsi students have organised near-daily protests to call for the former president’s reinstatement and to denounce the arrest of fellow students in previous demonstrations.
The controversial protest law, issued last month by interim President Adly Mansour requires protest organisers to notify authorities at least three days prior to the date of any demonstration of more than ten people. Organisers must give police details of the protest’s location, aims and demands.
Many human rights groups and activists have denounced the protest law as an infringement on Egyptians’ freedoms.
Source : Ahram