Cairo
police kill man, crack down on raging crowd
An
Egyptian man has been killed in front of a luxury hotel in central
Cairo after police opened fire on an angry crowd of around 500
people. The demonstrators set ablaze dozens of vehicles parked
outside the hotel, and had tried to storm the lobby.
RT,
3
August, 2012
The
violence broke out after a resident of poor nearby district, who had
been hired for temporary security work at the Fairmont Hotel in
Cairo’s Nile City Towers, was refused pay and prevented from
entering the hotel by police on Thursday.
He
was shot dead as he tried to storm the hotel with a group of his
comrades, local media report.
The
group, which was 500 strong, arrived from the nearby Ramlet Boulaq
district soon after the man was gunned down. They set fire to several
cars and motorcycles in the parking lot and tried to enter the hotel,
forcing police to deploy tear gas and bird shot to disperse the
crowd.
Witnesses
also claim that live ammunition was used, but these reports could not
be independently verified.
The
tear gas spread from the clashes into a residential slum area,
suffocating at least one young girl, according to residents.
On
Tuesday, the Fairmont hosted US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who
was in Egypt for talks with newly-elected President Mohamed Morsi.
The
building has repeatedly come under attack by residents of nearby
slums. On June 27, the tower’s staff reportedly refused to provide
water to extinguish a fire in a nearby shack, causing outrage among
locals after a five-year-old boy died in the fire.
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