At least eight protesters have been killed and hundreds more have been wounded during a day of massive protest calling for the resignation of Egypt’s president.
Hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Cairo and in cities around the country on the one-year anniversary of the election of President Mohammed Morsi.
Protesters marched on the presidential palace, throwing stones and firebombs, attempting to force out the Islamist president. At one point a fire erupted at the gates of the palace.
During the clash, Muslim Brotherhood supporters opened fire on the crowd and at least three people were killed.
At least five people were killed in southern Egypt on Sunday, as protesters called for Morsi’s to ‘leave.’
Suspected Islamists opened fire from a motorcycle on a crowd of protesters killing one and wounding seven outside a local government building, officials said.
The shooting enraged the protesters who marched into the building where gunmen killed two more, according to officals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The government building housed the office of the Freedom and Justice party, a political arm of President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Eariler Sunday, a protester was killed outside the local headquarters of the Freedom and Justice party in Beni Suef, about 120 kilometres south of Cairo.
Another protester was killed in Fayoum, on Sunday.
While at least eight people were killed, Sunday officials estimate that 400 were injured in clashes.
The demonstrators are also calling for early presidential elections.
Morsi’s Islamist backers held their own public rallies, gathering in the thousands outside a Cairo mosque and vowing to defend Morsi’s term. Fearing violence, many demonstrators were clad in body armour and carrying shields and clubs.
The scenes playing out across the nation harkened back to the 2011 protests that eventually culminated with the fall of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s regime. The uprising created weeks of civil unrest and instability in the Mideast nation.
President Morsi still has three years left in his term and said that street protest cannot overturn the results of a free election.
Economy looms as major issue
A declining economy and political unrest in the year since Morsi took office as Egypt’s first freely elected leader has further divided the country.
Morsi’s Islamist allies, including the Muslim Brotherhood, accuse old-regime loyalists of attempting to illegitimately return to power, while secular and liberal Egyptians, including moderate Muslims and Christians accuse Morsi of forcing upon them a new constitution, supporting religious extremists and mismanaging the nation’s affairs.
Louisa Loveluck, a Cairo-based freelance journalist said Morsi came into power with a large set of problems that have not gone away.
“The economy has continued to nosedive, the hated police force has remained unreformed and Morsi has presided over a system which has become increasingly political polarized where high-level politicians are even refusing to sit together,” Loveluck told CTV News Channel Sunday.
Suliman Mohammed, a protester at Tahrir Square, said he wants to see the immediate ouster of Morsi and the Brotherhood.
“I came here today because Morsi did not accomplish any of the (2011) revolution’s goals,” he said. “I don’t need anything for myself, but the needs of the poor were not met.”
Morsi, who was elected to a four-year term, indicated in an interview published Sunday in The Guardian that he had no plans to call an early presidential election.
With fears growing last week that violence would increase, Defence Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattak el-Sissi gave Morsi and his opponents a week to reach a peaceful compromise, or, he warned, see military intervention.
Armoured vehicles were deployed into some of Cairo’s suburbs Sunday, with soldiers visible at major intersections.
In a statement released Sunday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canada is “deeply concerned” about reports of violence in Egypt. He called on all parties to remain calm.
“We urge the government of Egypt to foster more meaningful political participation by the opposition to focus on rebuilding the Egyptian economy,” he said. “Respect for pluralism and a robust political dialogue are essential if Egypt is to stabilize.”
With files from The Associated Press
