Egypt protesters clash with police

Agencies/Cairo

Egyptians marched and chanted against Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in cities across the country yesterday and a few hundred attacked the presidential palace with petrol bombs and rocks.

At least 45 people were hurt during the day across the country, medical sources at the health ministry said. Two officers and three soldiers of the Republic Guard were wounded in clashes, the state news agency Mena reported.

Protests erupted last month over what demonstrators saw as Mursi’s attempts to monopolise power as well as wider political and economic grievances.

The main opposition alliance signed an agreement with the ruling Muslim Brotherhood last week rejecting violence and had not officially called for marches yesterday, although some of the alliance’s younger members called for protests.

While the number of protesters has dwindled, distrust of Mursi and the Brotherhood and a sense of political and economic malaise have continued to bring people into the streets.

At least 59 people were killed in the demonstrations between January 25, second anniversary of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak two years ago, and February 4.

A few hundred protesters gathered outside the presidential palace in Cairo as night fell, throwing stones and homemade bombs at the main gate. Police fired into the air, shot teargas and drove cars toward the crowd to scatter them.

“The people want to overthrow the regime,” the protesters chanted, turning the slogan of Arab Spring protests against the Islamist-led government they helped bring to power.

In Zagazig north of Cairo, protesters gathered in the area of Mursi’s home, Mena said. The demonstrators threw rocks at police, who fired teargas back.

Some of the most violent clashes yesterday were in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, hometown of an activist, 23-year-old Mohamed al-Guindi, who was buried there this week after being beaten to death by security men in Cairo.

Television footage showed scores of protesters lobbing petrol bombs at riot police, who responded with teargas to scatter the demonstrators.

“Down, down with the rule of the Supreme Guide,” protesters chanted, referring to Mohamed Badie, leader of the Brotherhood, which has dominated Egypt’s politics since the fall of Mubarak.

In Al Mahalla al-Kubra, another delta town, protesters threw bombs and broke down the door of a city council building as they tried to break in, Mena reported. Police fired teargas to disperse them.

The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party issued a statement on its Facebook page condemning “the attempts of some political forces in Al Mahalla al-Kubra to incite violence and destruction of public property”.

In Kafr el-Sheikh, dozens of protesters pelted police with rocks and tried to storm a government building to demand the removal of the provincial governor, Mena said.

At a subway station near Tahrir Square, epicentre of the 18-day revolt that toppled Mubarak, demonstrators stopped trains by climbing onto the tracks, Mena reported.

In the town of El Santa in Gharbiya province, protesters threw rocks at the offices of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political party, Mena reported.

Yesterday’s protests come just days after clerics issued fatwas to justify killing opposition leaders.

Cleric Mahmud Shaaban, a professor at Sunni Islam’s main seat of learning Al Azhar, gave the green light to kill opposition leaders including former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and ex-presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahy, during a talk show on a satellite channel.

Another cleric, Wagdi Ghoneim, also called on Muslims to “kill the thugs, criminals, and thieves who burn the country”, state media reported.

Security was stepped up outside the homes of ElBaradei and Sabbahi ahead of the protests, witnesses said, following orders from the interior minister.

The presidency condemned the fatwas as “terrorism”.

“Some are promoting and inciting political violence while others who claim to speak in the name of religion are permitting ‘killing’ based on political differences and this is terrorism,” the presidency said.