Protests hit Egypt on coup anniversary

Nearly 200 people have been arrested in Egypt during a series of demonstrations and small bombings on the anniversary of Mohamed Morsi’s removal from the presidency.

One of the bombs went off accidentally inside an apartment in Kirdasah, outside Cairo, killing two men who were handling the explosives, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Two other men fled after the blast, it said.

A security official said one Morsi supporter was killed during clashes with security forces in Giza. Late on Thursday, a homemade bomb went off on a train in Alexandria, injuring five passengers, another official said. 

Thursday’s demonstrations took place in several provinces including Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut and Fayoum.

Skirmishes were reported in Suez, the southern city of Aswan and on the outskirts of Cairo after nightfall.

Despite relatively small numbers, the protesters blocked some roads and chanted slogans against the military and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

Three police stations in Cairo’s Imbaba district were damaged by small bombs, a small bomb went off near an air force hospital in Cairo, and a police station and railway station in Assiut were also targeted with small bombs. No one was injured in any of those attacks.

Two more explosive devices were defused on the main road leading to the Giza pyramids. 

Rights violations

In a report marking the anniversary, Amnesty International said there had been a “sharp deterioration” in human rights in Egypt since Morsi’s removal. Arbitrary arrests and detentions had increased and there was a rise in what it called “harrowing incidents of torture and deaths in police custody”.

It added that it was up to Sisi as the new president to “turn the tide by launching independent, impartial investigations into all allegations of human rights violations”.

In a statement, the interior ministry said 157 demonstrators and 39 men on its most-wanted list had been arrested.

The Brotherhood has condemned the violence but vowed to continue holding demonstrations demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

Security was tight in the capital with main roads closed to traffic, including those around Tahrir Square.