Egypt: 49 people killed in protests on third anniversary of uprising

Monday, January 27, 2014

Egypt: 49 people killed in protests on third anniversary of uprising

Supporters of Mohamed Morsi, as well as activists opposed to authoritarianism of Morsi and General Sisi, took part in protests

Patrick Kingsley in Cairo
theguardian.com, Sunday 26 January 2014 14.27 EST

Mourners carry the coffin of a man killed during Saturday's clashes between protesters and security forces in Cairo. Photograph: Ahmed Omar/AP

Standing in the forecourt of Cairo's Zeinhom mortuary, waiting to pick up the corpse of his friend, Amr Hussein could scarcely believe he was there. "I thought we were done with this," said Hussein, 23. "I thought the revolution would be the start of a new era."
Hussein's classmate, Mohamed Yehia, was shot dead by police on Saturday, the third anniversary of the Egyptian uprising – a day that was meant to be a celebration.
But for many it was instead one of protest and mourning, with officials confirming on Sunday that 49 people had been killed in nationwide protests against the regime installed last July by the army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Fierce clashes raged in several neighbourhoods across the country, with armoured police vehicles charging at protesters in downtown Cairo.
Supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, as well as activists opposed to the authoritarianism of both Morsi and Sisi, took part – and 1,079 people were arrested.
"This is not the Egypt that we are looking for," said Ayman Abdelmeguid, a spokesman for the 6 April group, the secular youth movement that organised many of the first protests against Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Violence of a different kind continued on Sunday in the Sinai peninsular, where Islamist extremists ambushed and killed three policemen. It continued a militant surge against security forces that saw four bombs explode in Cairo on Friday, and an army helicopter allegedly shot down on Saturday.
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The New York Times

Clashes Kill 49 Egyptians on Uprising’s Anniversary

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICKJAN. 25, 2014

CAIRO — Thousands of Egyptians celebrated the third anniversary of their revolt against autocracy on Saturday by holding a rally for the military leader who ousted the country’s first democratically elected president. Elsewhere, at least 49 people died in clashes with security forces at rival antigovernment protests organized by Islamists and left-leaning activists.

In at least on-e case, the Islamists and liberals chanted against each other. But within as little as 15 minutes, riot police officers began firing tear-gas cannons and shooting guns into the air, swiftly dispersing the protests and leaving the day to the military leader, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi.

The violence escalated as the day went on. The Way of the Revolution Front, a group opposed to the Islamists as well as the military takeover, urged its supporters to retreat from the streets in the face of what it called “the excessive force that police are using against whoever tries to express their opinion.”

By Sunday morning, health officials said the death toll from clashes with the police had reached at least 49, most killed in the Cairo area. Security officials said more than 1,000 were arrested around the country. By Saturday night, more than 430 had been arrested in greater Cairo alone.

In the canal city of Suez, a car bomb at a police camp wounded four officers, officials said, the latest in a campaign of attacks on security forces since the military takeover. The violence on Saturday came a day after four bombings around the capital killed at least six people and clashes with the police killed another eight. But the government appeared determined to prevent any of the protests or deaths from dimming the spectacle of the rally for General Sisi, or the momentum of his presumed presidential campaign.

The enthusiasm of his supporters, however, also hinted at some of the outsize expectations he might face in office.

Hassan Shehab, 52, a shopkeeper carrying a poster of a son killed by security forces during the 2011 uprising, said he believed General Sisi would “turn Egypt from a third-world country to a first-world country” while bringing justice for the revolution’s “martyrs.”

“He will hold the police accountable and put them on trial, as soon as they get rid of the terrorism of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Mr. Shehab said.

The Brotherhood, an eight-decades-old Islamist organization, sponsored the most successful party in Egypt’s free elections in 2011 and 2012. Its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, became president and held that position until he was ousted by the military in July amid swelling street protests against him.

The military has been portraying the Brotherhood as a terrorist threat ever since. On Friday, government officials quickly blamed it for the day’s four bombings.