Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Mursi march through Cairo’s Moandessen neighbourhood yesterday.
ALEXANDRIA/CAIRO: Two people were killed in skirmishes as supporters of deposed president Mohammed Mursi thronged Egypt’s cities and towns yesterday for the third time in eight days, trying to rattle an army-backed government bent on crushing his Muslim Brotherhood.
Yesterday’s violence between Mursi supporters and either security forces or other supporters of the crackdown appeared more widespread than on either of the last two protest days.
A witness saw three men with swords set upon one of thousands of pro-Mursi protesters marching through Egypt’s second city, Alexandria. Medical sources said one person involved in that protest was killed.
Another Mursi supporter was seen with birdshot wounds to the face, and Brotherhood supporters were seen punching and kicking a man they presumed to be hostile to them, the witness said.
State television showed footage of soldiers armed with assault rifles searching buildings in Alexandria, saying they were looking for gunmen who had opened fire on them.
One Mursi supporter was killed in Kafr El Bateekh in Damietta province in clashes with government supporters where rocks, sticks and birdshot were used, according to witnesses and a medical official.
In both Tanta in the Nile Delta and the southern city of Assiut, security forces used tear gas.
About 2,000 people marched in the Cairo district of Nasr City and 3,000 people in the port city of Suez.
There were also marches in Fayoum, three other cities in Assiut governorate and in eight cities in Minya governorate.
In the Delta city of Damanhour, hundreds took to the streets in a pro-government march, chanting “No to terrorism” and “Army, police and people are one hand”.
As with previous days of protest, the marches received scant coverage on tightly-controlled state television channels and privately-owned Egyptian media hostile to the Brotherhood.
Islamist-run stations were shut down after Mursi was deposed, leaving it to Al Jazeera’s Egyptian channel, banned but still transmitting from its base in Qatar, to show live footage of the marches.
REUTERS
