adminPolice fired tear gas at stone-throwing youths in streets off the capital’s Tahrir Square, heart of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year. Protesters also turned out in Alexandria, Suez, Minya and cities in the Nile Delta.
A 52-year-old protester died after inhaling teargas in Cairo, the second death since last week’s decree that expanded Mursi’s powers and barred court challenges to his decisions. Yesterday’s protest called by leftists, liberals and other groups deepened the worst crisis since the Muslim Brotherhood politician was elected in June, and exposed a divide between the newly empowered Islamists and their opponents.
Some protesters have been camped out since Friday in the Tahrir, and violence has flared around the country, including in a town north of Cairo where a Muslim Brotherhood youth was killed in clashes on Sunday. Hundreds have been injured.
Mursi’s move provoked a rebellion by judges and battered confidence in an economy struggling after two years of turmoil. Opponents have accused Mursi of behaving like a modern-day pharaoh, a jibe long levelled at Mubarak. The United States, a benefactor to Egypt’s military, has expressed concern about more turbulence in a country that has a peace treaty with Israel.
Mursi’s administration has defended his decree as an effort to speed up reforms and complete a democratic transformation. Opponents say it shows he has dictatorial instincts.
“The people want to bring down the regime,” protesters chanted, echoing slogans used in the anti-Mubarak uprising. We don’t want a dictatorship again. The Mubarak regime was a dictatorship. We had a revolution to have justice and freedom,” said 32-year-old Ahmed Husseini. — Reuters.
leeroy
Online Reporter