Thousands of protesters clashed with police in several provinces in rallies calling on Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to fulfill the goals of the revolt that brought him to power.
More than 120 people were injured in the unrest across the country on Friday, the health ministry said.
In Cairo, protesters lobbed gasoline bombs and set off fireworks, as security vans charged towards demonstrators who fled down the large avenue flanking the presidential palace.
Clashes also erupted in several cities and towns in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya, where the health ministry said 28 people had been injured, mainly from tear gas inhalation. In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, 20 people were hurt in sporadic clashes between police and protesters, said the ministry.
The confrontations came after thousands took to the streets across Egypt answering a call by opposition groups for “Friday of dignity” rallies.
Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil condemned the violence as “unjustifiable” in comments cited by the official MENA news agency.
Those responsible were “damaging the stability of the country and obstructing the interests of citizens,” he said.
Shortly after Muslim noon prayers, marchers set off from several locations in Cairo to Tahrir Square and the presidential palace, banging on drums, waving flags and clapping in unison.
In Tahrir, several thousand protesters carried a huge Egyptian flag as they listened to speeches and music from the stage.
Several hundred protesters also gathered outside the presidential palace chanting “Freedom, where are you? Brotherhood rule stands between us,” a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood movement from which Morsi hails.
Protests against the Islamist president also took place after the weekly Friday prayers in several of Egypt’s 27 provinces.
In the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd outside a government building, as protesters hurled stones at the security forces, MENA reported.
In the city of Tanta, police clashed with protesters who tried to break into the municipal council building, MENA added.
Thirty-eight opposition parties and movements issued the joint call for the rallies. They want a new unity government, amendments to the Islamist-drafted constitution and guarantees for the independence of the judiciary.
The protests come after several incidents of police violence that have provoked public outrage and angry demonstrations.
The death of a pro-democracy activist early in the week following days in police custody sparked fury and reignited calls for police reform — a key demand of the uprising that toppled former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The protester’s death came just days after footage aired live on television of a man stripped naked and beaten by riot police during demonstrations near the presidential palace. Both incidents confronted Morsi with uncomfortable parallels with the old regime.
And only a few days ago, clerics issued fatwas to justify killing opposition leaders.
The presidency condemned the fatwas as “terrorism.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese