Eurasia Press & News
About 2,000 Islamists have rallied in Cairo. In Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria police fired tear gas to disperse Muslim Brotherhood supporters when they clashed with counterprotesters, a security official said.
Some 2,000 supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rallied outside Cairo’s presidential palace Friday, carrying posters of the former leader detained by the military since his July 3 removal. The Islamist Anti-Coup Alliance urged supporters to stay away from Tahrir Square, home of the 2011 revolution, during the protests to avoid more bloodshed after a week that saw nearly 80 Egyptians killed, many of them in the capital.
The Interior Ministry had warned the Islamists that it would “confront any attempts to break the legitimacy” of the interim government, adding that it had deployed security reinforcements in Tahrir Square and streets around it and near the US embassy in central Cairo. However, after Friday’s protests, which commemorated 100 days since Morsi’s ouster, another Interior Ministry statement announced that most of the “limited” marches had passed without incident.
On Sunday, fierce clashes had erupted when security forces prevented Islamists from trying to reach Tahrir Square, where supporters of the military celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Arab-Israeli war. Fighting there killed more than 50 people as nine more died in similar battles across Egypt.
