Archive for violent clashes

Demonstrators march to join sit-in at presidential palace

by admin
December 9th, 2012

Hundreds of protesters from around Cairo marched on the presidential palace late Sunday afternoon, joining a sit-in that has camped out there since early last week and seen violent clashes that left at least seven dead.

A march that included members of the liberal Constitution Party, which left from Sa'a Square in Nasr City, headed toward the palace after another rally of hundreds joined it from Mostafa al-Nahas Street in Nasr City.

Around the same time, a third dozens-strong march took off from Roxy Square in Heliopolis to the palace.

Republican Guard forces blocked all roads leading to the palace starting in the afternoon, and prevented demonstrators from reaching the area meant for the sit-in.

Verbal altercations broke out between protesters and the Republican Guard forces when they prevented new demonstrators from joining the sit-in, only allowing those already inside the road blocks to leave.

Clashes had taken place on Sunday morning between hundreds of opponents of President Mohamed Morsy and dozens of his supporters, when the supporters tried to persuade the opponents to move their sit-in to somewhere other than the palace.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Four arrested for explosives possession in Heliopolis

by admin
December 9th, 2012

Cairo security forces arrested four people whom they claimed were in possession of explosive materials while allegedly on their way to the presidential palace.

A security officer in Heliopolis stopped the four while they were in a taxi. After searching them, the officer found a wooden box with 32 bottles holding a vinegar and ammonia mixture. The four were also in possession of a kilogram of nails and half a kilogram of dry ammonia.

Investigators say that the four admitted they intended to use the items as explosives.

The four suspects have been detained by police for four days pending further investigations.

Violent clashes have taken place around the presidential palace for a week between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsy over the constitution referendum slated for 15 December and the constitutional declaration issued on 22 November. At least seven people have been killed and dozens more detained.

Newly-appointed Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah also claimed Saturday that preliminary investigations had not yet uncovered what role, if any, the police played in the clashes.

At least 141 suspects have been interrogated in connection with the clashes, and eight others are also scheduled for questioning.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Update: 154 detained after deadly clashes, prosecutor continues investigations

by admin
December 6th, 2012

A total of 154 protesters have so far been detained on charges relating to the violent clashes that took place outside the presidential palace in Heliopolis on Wednesday night, leaving five dead and over 1,000 injured. At least 49 of the detainees were brought to the Heliopolis police station by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Initial investigations allege that five of the detainees are Muslim Brotherhood members while the rest come from the opposition.

Two of the detainees have gone on a hunger strike in protest.

Many of the suspects suffered bruises from having been hit by stones. Authorities claim that they have received medical treatment.

On Thursday Prosecutor General Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah instructed East Cairo-based attorney generals to visit the area of the clashes and examine the scene. The prosecution’s investigators have already conducted their own examination.

Another team of investigators have visited those injured in the clashes in the hospital to question them on the details of the events and review their medical reports.

After the prosecutor general ordered a forensic autopsy on the five deceased protesters to determine the cause of death, medical reports established that the fatal injuries included gunshot wounds from live ammunition as well as knife wounds.

All detainees arrested in the course of the clashes as well as other witnesses are being questioned by the prosecutor’s office, in an effort to determine criminal responsibility in the matter and bring the perpetrators to trial.

Edited translation from MENA and Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Stock market loses LE10.4 billion Thursday

by admin
December 6th, 2012

The violent clashes in front of the presidential palace Wednesday night affected the stock market negatively on Thursday.

The main index EGX30, which tracks the performance of the top 30 companies, went down by 4.6 percent, losing 233 points to reach 4,838 points, with sales values at LE402.4 million.

The stock exchange halted the trading of 61 companies for half an hour after they passed the allowable percentage decline, which is 5 percent.

The trading screens were covered in red.

The market capitalization lost LE10.4 billion after the close prices of 137 securities went down, while only seven securities went up.

Mohsen Adel, deputy head of the Egyptian Society for the Study of Finance and Investment, said the clashes outside the presidential palace urged investors, particularly foreigners, to liquidate parts of their portfolios out of fear the situation would deteriorate.

Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, investment director at Premiere Company, said foreign institutions went for sale transactions. He expected that the market would continue to be affected by the ongoing political turmoil.

Abdel Rahman said that many securities’ companies asked the exchange to suspend work, worrying that the unrest could push the stock market to collapse.

The recorded transactions of Arab and foreign investors reached LE21.7 million and LE8.5 million respectively on Thursday, while the purchases of Egyptians were worth about LE30.3 million.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Brotherhood: Feloul, thugs, snipers responsible for Wednesday’s violence

by admin
December 6th, 2012

Wednesday night's violent clashes between Muslim Brotherhood members and demonstrators against President Mohamed Morsy were fueled by elements from the former regime and a number of politicians, the Brotherhood alleged in a statement issued Thursday, claiming that Brotherhood members did not perpetrate violent acts in these events.

Five have been reported dead in the clashes that occured near the presidential palace in Heliopolis, and more than 1,500 were injured.

The events represent “a continuation of the sacrifices offered by the Egyptian nation, with the Brotherhood at its core, since 25 January,” the statement said, pointing to “a failed plot by those who confronted the revolution, and continue to conspire against it, and use the money they stole from Egyptians and the funds they receive from corrupt figures abroad who had escaped justice.”

Liberal political forces accused the Brotherhood of pushing its supporters to clash with the president's opponents. A number of presidential advisers have resigned in protest against the recent developments, which they hold the Morsy administration accountable for.

The Brotherhood claimed its members went to the presidential palace in a peaceful demonstration to express their support for Morsy’s “legitimacy,” but were faced by thugs armed with firearms, Molotov cocktails and tear gas, as well as snipers. These thugs were responsible for the deaths of five protestors, the statement said.

The statement claimed the five victims were Brotherhood members who  were “killed by treachery, thuggery and terrorism in a conspiracy coup against legitimacy and popular will.”

“The peak of the conspiracy is the attempt to storm the presidential palace and occupy it,” the Brotherhood claimed.

The Muslim Brotherhood announced the arrest of an armed group that it claimed “tried to occupy the palace,” which the statement considered as “the symbol of the state and its prestige, and the headquarters of the popularly elected president.”

The statement accused the media of “falsifying facts,” and addressed people working in the media by saying, “Don’t you see that all the martyrs come from the Muslim Brotherhood?”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Clashes erupt near Morsy’s Sharqiya home

by admin
December 6th, 2012

Violent clashes erupted on Thursday close to President Mohamed Morsy’s home in Zagazig, Sharqiya.

Protesters angry with the violence that broke out during demonstrations in front of the presidential palace on Wednesday evening fought with security forces.The two sides threw stones at each other, prompting the security forces to heavily fire tear gas in an attempt to push the protesters back.

Many tear gas canisters fell close to the Zagazig University Hospital adjacent to Morsy’s home, forcing the evacuation of its patients.

Security forces were heavily deployed as an increasing number of protesters arrived in Zagazig and gathered in front of the faculty of medicine close to the university hospital.

More than 20 protesters had to be hospitalized due to suffocation from the tear gas.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Following clashes, Morsy adviser retires from politics

by admin
December 6th, 2012

Coptic thinker Rafiq Habib, a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and adviser to President Mohamed Morsy, announced Thursday his retirement from all political posts, including any role in the presidential office or the party.

Habib announced his resignation on Facebook, adding that he plans to return to his job as a researcher and political analyst.

Other presidential advisers including Ayman al-Sayyad, Amr al-Leithy, Mohamed Esmat Seif al-Dawla and Saif Abdel Fattah also resigned in protest of the violent clashes outside the presidential palace on Wednesday night after supporters of the president attempted to end an opposition sit-in. At least five people died and more than 400 were injured in the fighting that ensued.  

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Interior minister: Police act with impartiality and integrity

by admin
December 6th, 2012

Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin said Thursday that the police are exerting the maximum effort to secure citizens and facilities, stressing that policemen carry out their duties impartially and with integrity.

Gamal Eddin added in a statement that he hopes people recognize the police force’s rational performance during this critical moment in the country’s history.
 
Violent clashes between pro- and anti-Morsy supporters in the area surrounding the presidential palace Wednesday night left five dead and hundreds injured.

State-run MENA news service quoted a security official as saying that the police remained neutral while breaking up the clashes. The source noted that the police sometimes used foot soldiers and other times armored vehicles, and claimed that the police performance was applauded by both sides in the clashes.

The Interior Ministry statement said police forces used some tear gas to disperse the fighting. The statement added that the police were in a difficult position and tried to keep the situation under control.

Eyewitnesses told Al-Masry Al-Youm Wednesday that the police assaulted anti-Morsy protesters and detained dozens of them during the clashes.  

Former presidential hopeful Khaled Ali accused the police of conspiracy against the protesters.

“In the vicinity of the presidential palace, blood has no price,” Ali wrote on his Twitter. “The Muslim Brotherhood militia and the complicit police fired tear gas and bullets on the revolutionaries, who resisted using stones and chanting, ‘The revolution continues.’”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Around 300 injured in Mahalla clashes

by admin
November 27th, 2012

A fire broke out in a gas station in Al-Shoan Square in Mahalla on Tuesday evening, as Mahalla Club Ultras and Islamist youth threw Molotov cocktails at one another, resulting in about 300 injuries.

Saad Mekky, director of the Mahalla Public Hospital, said 15 wounded victims arrived at the hospital with different injuries including bruises and abrasions.

The Freedom and Justice Party’s media spokesperson in Mahalla, Mamdouh Mounir, said 200 Muslim Brotherhood members were injured, alleging that anti-Brotherhood protesters had prevented ambulances from reaching the victims.

Violent clashes erupted Tuesday night between members of revolutionary groups and the FJP members in the labor activist stronghold of Mahalla.

Eyewitnesses said that clashes in the city, located in the Gharbiya Governorate in the Nile Delta, began when protesters against President Mohamed Morsy’s new constitutional declaration hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at Brotherhood and FJP offices in the city.

Dozens were injured when fighting escalated, with both sides using sticks and bladed weapons.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Update: Mother of Damanhour teen killed in clashes speaks out on son’s death

by admin
November 26th, 2012

Mona Badr, mother of the 15-year-old who died in the course of clashes in Damanhour on Sunday, told Egypt Independent that the day her son died, he told her he was going to the Muslim Brotherhood offices on Al-Saa Square to check on the clashes there.

Violent clashes had erupted on Sunday between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsy.

She added that her son, Islam Fathy, went to the headquarters his own free will, not at the request of the group. She claimed that “thugs” tortured her son before they killed him.

Badr accused the police of taking three hours to arrive to the scene.

Receiving condolences while sitting on her bed, Badr said there was no rivalry between Islam and his brother, Ahmed, who had recently joined the secularist Constitution Party.

She denounced talk show host Amr Adib for calling her son a thug. “He learnt the Quran by heart,” she said. “And he taught it to the children.”

“He always told me he wished to die a martyr in Tahrir Square during the revolution,” Badr continued.

Thousands of Damanhour residents attended Islam's funeral on Monday.

Essam al-Erian, the deputy chief of the Freedom and Justice Party, and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the Beheira Governorate were in attendance.

Fathy died when he was hit in the head with a rock in the midst of clashes that injured 60 others. Shortly after his death, police forces fired teargas to disperse the fighting.

The FJP website said on Sunday night that Fathy was a member of the Brotherhood Youth.

Close to midnight Sunday, hundreds of Morsy supporters held unrelated demonstrations in front of mosques in Cairo and around the country to support the constitutional declaration issued by the president last Thursday that granted him sweeping powers.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm with additional reporting from Abdelrahman Youssef

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