Violence in Cairo

Violence flares in Cairo as thousands protest Morsi regime throughout Egypt

Protests turn violent in key Egyptian cities again on Friday, as thousands take to the streets to demand the end of Morsi’s government. Petrol bomb-throwing protesters clash with the police in front of the presidential palace in Cairo

RT,

31 January, 2013

At least 48 people were injured following the Friday clashes in Cairo, Al Arabiya reported.

Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and launced fireworks over the gates of the presidential building, Cairo-based journalist Bel Trew told RT. The angry crowds were pushed back by the teargas-firing security forces on armored vehicles, she added.

"People are still chanting in amongst this chaos that the president must step down, and this is the sentiment accross the capital," Trew reported.

Petrol bombs and stones were also reportedly thrown at the British Embassy in Cairo, according to Al-Arabiya.

Egypt’s presidential office has called political factions to withdraw from outside the president’s palace, Al-Arabiya said. Egyptian PM Hesham Qandil has also urged all political parties to condemn violent protesters.

But the opposition is unlikely to call the people off the streets after it spoke in favor of mass demonstrations despite Thursday talks with Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayyeb of Al-Azhar University. Al-Tayyeb, a well-respected spiritual figure in Egypt, urged the rival sides to renounce violence and agree to set up a committee to start peaceful talks. “The marches for tomorrow are still on, as the Azhar document condemns violence but we are not doing anything violent,” one of the opposition members was cited by Reuters.

Chaos and violence will continue if Morsi ignores the peoples’ demands, the opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said on Friday according to Al-Arabiya. Egypt’s National Salvation Front will meet Saturday to discuss the latest developments, Al-Arabiya added.

Sporadic clashes with the police in Cairo were also reported earlier Friday, and several protesters were injured by rubber bullets.

Several thousand people have gathered in Tahrir square on Friday, Bel Trew told RT.

“We came here to get rid of Morsi. He's only a president for the Brotherhood,” a protester told Reuters from amid the angry crowd that filled Tahrir square.

“I am here because I want my rights, the ones the revolution called for and which were never achieved,” another protester said.

Protesters dressed in black marched through the streets of Port Said, Alexandria and Ismailia chanting anti-Morsi slogans and proclaiming their anger over the nearly 60 victims of the recent civil unrest.

The Suez Canal city of Port Said saw crowds of protesters shouting, shaking their fists and carrying portraits of those shot in fierce clashes with police last weekend.

“We will die like they did, to get justice!” the protesters chanted according to Reuters. Recent unrest in the Suez Canal area has prompted the Egyptian government to deploy the army and impose a curfew, as the head of the armed forces warned the state was on the verge of “collapse.”

For the people protesting in Port Said, Friday also meant a year since the football stadium riot that left 74 people dead and hundreds injured.

In Alexandria hundreds of marching protesters blocked a major traffic intersection, Reuters said.

The last spike of violence in Egypt marked the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution. Last week’s deadly clashes proved the protesters demanding Morsi's government overthrow are not giving in. The Egyptian opposition has also persisted in its demands to form a unity government and have the controversial constitution amended.