14 Killed as Clashes Mar Egypt Revolt Anniversary
Local Editor
Clashes between protesters and security forces left at least 14 people dead on Sunday, the anniversary of Egypt's 2011 revolt that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Authorities had tightened security in Cairo and other cities after Muslim Brotherhood supporters called for protests against the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who ousted his predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Demonstrators, mostly backers of Mursi, clashed with police, leaving 12 protesters dead in Cairo and another in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, a health ministry official said.
Officials said the protester in Alexandria was shot dead by police after he opened fire on them.
Hundreds of other protesters who denounced both extremists and the government also clashed with police in central Cairo.
The interior ministry said protesters shot dead a police conscript in the clashes in two north Cairo neighborhoods that are strongholds of Brotherhood protests. Three other officers were wounded.
At least 150 people were arrested across the country as police dispersed protests which saw many leftwing demonstrators also participating, security officials said.
In downtown Cairo, police fired shotguns and tear gas against hundreds of protesters who tried to march on the central Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the early 2011 revolt that ousted Mubarak.
Armored vehicles were stationed around Tahrir, but despite extra security in the capital jihadists managed to set off a bomb in Cairo that wounded two policemen.
The interior ministry said the bomb exploded in eastern Cairo's Alf Maskan neighborhood, where a similar blast on Friday wounded four policemen and a civilian.
Extremist group Ajnad Misr [Soldiers of Egypt] claimed both blasts.
Two suspected militants were also killed when they mistakenly blew themselves up in an attempt to sabotage an electricity tower in the Nile Delta province of Baheira, the interior ministry said.
Tensions had surged ahead of the anniversary, and a female demonstrator was killed in clashes with police during a rare leftwing protest in Cairo on Saturday.
Shaima al-Sabbagh, who friends said was 34 and the mother of a five-year-old boy, died of birdshot wounds, a health ministry spokesman said.
Fellow protesters said she was hit by birdshot when police fired to disperse the march. Prosecutors have launched a probe into her death.
An 18-year-old female protester was also killed on Friday in clashes in Alexandria.
Ahead of the anniversary, police had warned they would "decisively" confront protests. Mursi's supporters often hold small rallies that police quickly disperse.
Cairo's streets were largely deserted, although a few Sisi supporters gathered outside Tahrir waving Egyptian flags and chanting "Long Live Egypt!"
Security was beefed up elsewhere in the capital, with machinegun-wielding police deployed on key streets.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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