New clashes as anger in Egypt boils over

Last Updated: Sat, 4 Feb 2012 05:09:00 +1100

Egyptian protesters clashed with police for a second straight day on Friday as anger against the ruling military boiled over amid fury at the deaths of 74 people in football-related violence.

Marchers descended on parliament from mosques across Cairo to demand that the generals cede power immediately after a night of demonstrations in major cities across Egypt left at least two people dead.

In a sign of the growing threat the political turmoil poses to Egypt's economy, two female American tourists and their Egyptian tour guide were kidnapped on the road from the historic St Catherine's monastery in the Sinai peninsula, security officials said.

In the capital, riot police outside the interior ministry building fired tear gas at demonstrators, who hurled rocks back, after a night of confrontations left hundreds injured.

The ministry said the injury toll since Thursday had reached 1,482 while one pro-democracy group, the Coalition of Maspero Youth, said one of its members had lost an eye during the clashes.

A soldier injured outside the ministry building on Thursday died in hospital on Friday, the state MENA news agency reported.

Masked protesters cut through barbed wire and lit fires on Mansur Street which leads to the ministry, as rocks flew overhead in all directions.

In nearby Tahrir Square - nerve centre of the mass rallies that forced Hosni Mubarak from power last February - thousands gathered chanting slogans against the military council that took power when the veteran president quit.

Marchers set off from mosques across the capital after noon prayers headed to parliament, a few blocks away.

In the canal city of Suez, where two demonstrators were killed late on Thursday, police fired birdshot and tear gas to disperse angry protesters.

Under a volley of rocks and stones, ambulances ferried the injured out of Al-Arbaeen Square in the centre of the city at the opposite end of the Suez Canal from Port Said where Wednesday night's stadium deaths enraged the nation.

Football violence

The clashes between fans of home team Al-Masry and Cairo's Al-Ahly marked one of the deadliest incidents in football history, and came amid claims by witnesses the security forces did little to prevent the rioting.

At final whistle, Al-Masry fans invaded the pitch after their team beat the visitors 3-1, throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at Al-Ahly supporters, causing chaos and panic as players and fans fled in all directions, the witnesses said.

"This happened as security services stood by and did nothing, like they did in previous events, and perhaps they even contributed to the massacre," wrote Ibrahim Mansur, a columnist for the independent daily Al-Tahrir.

"This happened under the military council whose ouster the people are demanding, and who has proved that it is a failure," he said.

Egyptians have become increasingly angry with the ruling military, which they accuse of failing to manage the country and of human rights abuses.

AFP

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