Egypt police fire teargas on Morsi supporters
Tear gas used after clashes in Alexandria and Suez, as Morsi supporters stage protests in towns and cities across Egypt.
Police have used teargas to disperse demonstrations of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, and in Suez.
Thousands of supporters of Egypt’s first elected president Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group marched in Cairo and other cities, to keep pressure on the military-backed leadership.
Morsi supporters turned out on Friday to demonstrate in Cairo’s southern district of Maadi, calling for Morsi to be reinstated and urging military leader General Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to step aside.
Other scattered protests occurred across Egypt.
In Suez, police fired tear gas to disperse around 4,000 pro-Morsi demonstrators, a local witness said.
And in Alexandria, around 1,000 demonstrators blocked the Corniche, the main road along the Mediterranean seafront, and chanted slogans against the army and police, a witness said.
Residents and drivers threw stones at the demonstrators to try to force them to let traffic through, which triggered
clashes.
Police responded by firing teargas to disperse the crowds. Two people were arrested.
Residents and pro-Morsi protesters also clashed in the Wardeyan area of western Alexandria until police fired teargas
to disperse the crowds, a witness said.
Morsi was overthrown along with his Muslim Brotherhood-led government in a July 3 coup after millions protested against his leadership, claiming the Islamist president was incompetent and overstepped his authority during a year in power.
Since then, his supporters have staged near-daily rallies around the country, protesting security crackdown in which hundreds have been killed and more than 2,000 of group’s members have been jailed. Morsi has been held incommunicado since his ousting and a court has ordered an outright ban on his group.
An umbrella group of Islamist parties, including the Brotherhood, said Friday’s rallies were the beginning of a weeklong protest campaign until November 4 when Morsi is scheduled to appear in court.
The campaign has been dubbed the week of “steadfastness”.
Morsi faces criminal charges accusing him of inciting the murder of rallying opponents while he was in office.
Authorities have not said whether Morsi will appear at the hearing. If he does, it will be his first public appearance since the coup.