A protester was killed in Egypt and a bomb wounded two policemen yesterday, the anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, security sources said.
The anniversary is a test of whether extremist and liberal Muslim groups who have faced a tough security crackdown have the resolve to challenge Egypt’s US-backed government once again.
Security forces have been stamping out dissent since the army ousted former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
Photo: Reuters
Dozens of protesters were killed during last year’s anniversary of the revolt centered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
The protester died yesterday from birdshot wounds in Alexandria, Egypt’s second-biggest city, the security sources said.
The Egyptian Ministry of the Interior said the man had been armed.
Separately, a bomb targeted policemen stationed outside a Cairo sports club, the sources said.
In the Nile Delta region of Baheira, about 170km from Cairo, two militants were killed when bombs they were planting exploded, state television reported.
In Cairo, riot police backed by soldiers in armored vehicles sealed off strategic roads, including ones leading to Tahrir Square.
Morsi supporters gathered near Tahrir and held up photographs of the former president, a witness said.
Security forces rounded up the supporters near Tahrir Square and used teargas to disperse a protest in the city’s Ramses Square, officials said.
In the Cairo suburb of Matariya, security forces fired teargas as about 900 people protested.
Security forces were also dispatched to Rabaa Square in northeast Cairo, where hundreds of Morsi supporters were killed in August 2013 at a protest camp.
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