Egypt

Mursi Appeals for Calm as Egypt Clashes Kill 7

Mursi Appeals for Calm as Egypt Clashes Kill 7
Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi has appealed for calm after seven people died in clashes between police and protesters on the second anniversary of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

As troops were deployed in the flashpoint city of Suez, Mursi, in a message posted on his Twitter account Friday, urged “citizens to adhere to the values of the revolution, express opinions freely and peacefully and renounce violence”.

At least seven people died in Friday’s anti-government protests, according to the health ministry, six in Suez and one in Ismailiya, in the northeast, while 456 were injured in unrest across 12 provinces. The interior ministry said 95 of its officers had been injured.

Mursi said police officers were among the dead and expressed his condolences “to all Egyptians” over the deaths of both police and protesters. The authorities would “pursue culprits of Friday’s violence and bring them to justice”, he added.

Troops in armoured vehicles were deployed in Suez on Friday evening, taking up positions at the entry of the canal, outside the police headquarters and the governorate building.

Egypt is in the throes of an economic crisis as foreign investment and tourism revenues dwindle, the Egyptian pound stands at its lowest level against the dollar and a budget deficit shows no sign of recovery.

In the province of Ismailiya, which neighbours Suez, protesters stormed the governorate headquarters, setting fire to a room used by security services and looting furniture and equipment, an AFP reporter said.

Demonstrators had earlier set fire to the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Ismailiya, the reporter said. Black smoke billowed from the windows of the apartment housing the movement’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) offices.

In the Mediterranean city of Damietta, protesters surrounded the governorate building and blocked traffic in the area, and in the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh they stormed the courtyard of the building and clashed with police.

In Cairo, police fired tear gas at protesters outside the presidential palace, where clashes between Mursi’s allies and foes in December killed several people. Marching protesters outside blocked traffic and while others set fire to tyres and blocked traffic in both directions on the 6 October bridge, a flyover that connects east and west Cairo.

Some also blocked the underground metro at several stations in central Cairo, paralyzing the public transport used by millions every day.

In Egypt’s second city Alexandria, as demonstrators clashed with the security forces, some protesters set fire to tyres, witnesses said. “The smoke is black, there is a lot of gas. There are people on the ground because they can’t breathe,” one of the protesters, who gave his name only as Rasha, told AFP.

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