Egypt
extends Cairo curfew in wake of protests
Military
enforced curfew in effect for a third night, following Friday's
protest turned riot that killed one and wounded nearly 400.
6
May, 2012
Egypt
extended an overnight curfew in the area surrounding the Defense
Ministry compound on Sunday to deter a repeat of Friday's deadly
violence, less than three weeks before a presidential vote.
A
soldier died and almost 400 people were wounded in Friday's clashes,
the second time in a week that protests over the army's handling of
Egypt's troubled transition from army rule to civilian government
have turned violent.
The
military re-imposed the curfew in the Abbasiya district around the
Defence Ministry for the third straight day, the state news agency
quoted a military source as saying.
The
curfew is set to run from 11 P.M. to 6 A.M., an hour less than on the
previous two nights.
A
presidential election, which starts on May 23-24, will choose a
replacement for Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in February last year.
Generals have governed since then and their rule has been punctuated
by unrest, sometimes violent.
Many
protesters who gathered near the ministry were ultra-Orthodox Salafi
Muslims furious that a sheikh they backed for president has been
disqualified from the race. Liberals and others were also there,
accusing the army of seeking to manipulate or delay the vote.
The
military has dismissed those allegations, insisting it will stick to
its timetable of handing over power to a new president by July 1, or
even earlier in the unlikely event of an outright winner in the first
round of voting this month.
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