Ex-regime puppets attack Egyptian People in the Square

Clashes erupted in Cairo’s Tahrir Square Friday as supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi tried to wrest control of the square which witnessed the bulk of Egyptian 25th revolution’s protests.

The health ministry said at least 12 people were wounded as protesters showered stones at each other in some of the worst violence over the country’s new leader.

Agence France Presse reported that clashes started after Brotherhood supporters tore down a podium belonging to a group that was chanting anti-Mursi slogans.

Some 2,000 people poured onto the square on Friday after tensions erupted following a court ruled to acquit Mubarak-era officials accused of ordering a camel charge against protesters during last year’s uprising.

Mursi’s opponents however, a coalition of liberal and secular leaning groups, had previously called their own rally to denounce Mursi’s control over a body drafting the new constitution and his performance in office as well.

Confusion reigned in the large square, the nerve centre of protests that toppled Mubarak early last year, as fighting broke out in several areas of the central Cairo hub.

Mursi won the presidential election in June against Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last premier.

Opponents of Mursi include influential judges who were again infuriated by the president when he tried sacking the state prosecutor on Thursday after the acquittals of 24 former regime figures accused of organizing attacks on protesters.

The state prosecutor refused to step down and take Mursi’s offer of an ambassadorship in the Vatican, and an influential judges’ club described Mursi’s decree as an attack on judicial independence.

After his election, Morsi had tried to reverse a court order that dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament, sparking a backlash from the judiciary.