Deadly violence grips Egypt on revolution anniversary

Seven reported dead and scores of civilians and security forces injured

as thousands protest for anti-Morsi protests


[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]



Fatal clashes continued into the night in several Egyptian cities

on Friday as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets

to protest against President [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط],

the Muslim Brotherhood, and police brutality –

exactly two years after the start of the 2011 revolution

that toppled Hosni Mubarak.


According to state media, at least seven people died in Suez

and 379 were injured across the country as riots broke out

in Cairo's Tahrir Square and cities including Alexandria,

Mahalla, and Ismailia. Police repeatedly fired

teargas across much of central Cairo and protesters

pelted them with stones – bringing parts of

the city's road and metro networks to a standstill.



As night fell, medics warned that the amount of teargas

in Tahrir Square had reached a "dangerous level".

According to Tahrir Bodyguards, a group protecting

female protesters, at least nine women were sexually

assaulted in the square – prompting memories

of some of the worst moments of the Egyptian uprising in 2011.


For many on the streets, there was a painful sense of deja-vu.

"There's no military dictatorship any more,

but there are the beginnings of a theocratic one,

" argued Karim Abadir, a co-founder of the Free Egyptians –

a liberal opposition party – who had set up

a tent in the centre of Tahrir Square.


Hisham Abdel-Latif, another protester who took part in one

of several feeder marches that snaked their way towards

Tahrir from the Cairene suburbs, said Egyptians were

"now ruled by a gang that is exactly the same

as the Mubarak gang, except they now have beards".


Violence broke out in Cairo in the early hours of the morning,

as police burnt down two tents in Tahrir Square.

For much of the day, police and hundreds of protesters

then took it in turns to lob chunks of rubble over

two makeshift walls built to protect

the interior ministry from attack.


One of the stone-throwers, Karim Ali, said it was revenge

for the protesters killed by police since 2011.

"The police are behaving the same as they did

during the Mubarak years," he said.


Morsi may be [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]'s first democratically-elected president,

but many Egyptians fear he only has

the interests of Islamists at heart.


In particular, the opposition was incensed by the way

he bypassed judicial protocols in November to push through

a new constitution that the left sees as the first step

towards Islamic law. In his defence, Morsi's allies claimed

it was a clumsy but well-meant attempt to create

longterm democratic stability.


Many also blame Morsi for failing to tackle Egypt's creaking

infrastructure – more than 70 Egyptians have died

in train accidents since December – and its dire

economic predicament: Egypt's foreign reserves

have fallen drastically in recent weeks.


"I'm here to get rid of Morsi," said Moustapha Magdi,

an unemployed commerce graduate on a march from Giza.

"First Mubarak, then Tantawi, now Morsi.

We are only ruled by bastards."


Magdi criticised Morsi's failure to prosecute members

of the military who killed Egyptians

during and since the revolution.


"Where are these people? They are outside.

They are not in prison. There is no justice," he said.


According to a recent poll, Morsi's approval ratings

rose to 63% in January, and even some protesters

were ambivalent about blaming the president himself

for the problems besetting Egypt.


"Morsi has not been given a chance," said El-Sherbeeni

Ahmed Mohammed, a retired financial consultant.

"A barren patch of land must be given time to become fertile."


"The protests, it's too much. It's stopping the tourists,

" said Mohammed Gooda, a 43-year-old taxi driver

who claimed the constant political instability wasdamaging business.

Tourism is down by 22% since 2010. "For people like me,

the constitution is not very important.

It is more important that we work and we feed our families."


Marching from Giza, 20-year-old Moustapha el-Nahaal

gave Morsi his backing, and instead blamed his technocrat ministers.

"I want [prime minister] Hisham Qandil to go,

along with all his team," said el-Nahaal, a 20-year-old commerce

student and an activist for Strong Egypt,

a moderate Islamist party.


"I'm supporting Morsi," says 65-year-old Hossam El-Deeb,

a bearded mosque official, a former political prisoner under Mubarak.

"The revolution has achieved a lot in psychological terms,

" he added, suggesting that it was too early

to criticise Morsi for Egypt's dire economic predicament.


A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood said that violent

protests were unconstructive at a time when the country

needed to pull together. "The country is dying because of

malpractice over 30 years of Mubarak's dictatorship,

" the Brotherhood's Gehad al-Haddad told the Guardian.

"Now we have to co-operate, or continue falling down."


Elsewhere in Cairo, protesters and supporters

of the regime clashed outside an office of the Muslim Brotherhood.

There were also clashes in Alexandria, Port Said,

and outside the presidential palace in Heliopolis.