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Angry protests leave 7 dead on Egypt anniversary
Thousands of Egyptian protesters gather in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. / AP Photo/Khalil Hamra
Updated 11:02 PM ET
CAIRO Violence erupted across Egypt on Friday as tens of thousands took to the streets to deliver an angry backlash against President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, demanding regime change on the second anniversary of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. At least seven people were killed.
Two years to the day after protesters first rose up against the autocratic ex-president, the new phase of Egypt's upheaval was on display: the struggle between ruling Islamists and their opponents, played out against the backdrop of a worsening economy.
Riots mark 2nd anniv. of Egypt revolution
Rallies turned to clashes in multiple cities around Egypt, with police firing tear gas and protesters throwing stones. At least six people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in Suez, where protesters set ablaze a building that once housed the city's local government. Another person died in clashes in Ismailia, another Suez Canal city east of Cairo.
At least 480 people were injured nationwide, the Health Ministry said, including five with gunshot wounds in Suez, raising the possibility of a higher death toll.
Early on Saturday, army troops backed by armored vehicles deployed in the area outside the building housing the local government in Suez. The Third Field Army from which the troops were drawn announced that the deployed force was there to protect state institutions and that it was not taking sides.
Friday's rallies brought out at least 500,000 Morsi opponents, a small proportion of Egypt's 85 million people, but large enough to show that antipathy toward the president and his Islamist allies is strong in a country fatigued by two years of political turmoil, surging crime and an economy in free fall. Protests — and clashes — took place in at least 12 of Egypt's 27 provinces, including several Islamist strongholds.
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"I will never leave until Morsi leaves," declared protester Sara Mohammed as she was treated for tear gas inhalation outside the presidential palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district. "What can possibly happen to us? Will we die? That's fine, because then I will be with God as a martyr. Many have died before us and even if we don't see change, future generations will."
The opposition's immediate goal was a show of strength to force Morsi to amend the country's new constitution, ratified in a national referendum last month despite objections that it failed to guarantee individual freedoms.
More broadly, the protests display the extent of public anger toward the Muslim Brotherhood, which opponents accuse of acting unilaterally rather than creating a broad-based democracy.
During his six months in office, Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected and civilian president, has faced the worst crises since Mubarak's ouster — divisions that have left the nation scarred and in disarray. A wave of demonstrations erupted in November and December following a series of presidential decrees that temporarily gave Morsi near absolute powers, placing him above any oversight, including by the judiciary.
The Brotherhood and its Islamist allies, including the ultraconservative Salafis, have justified their hold by pointing to a string of election victories over the past year. The opposition contends they have gone far beyond what they say is a narrow mandate — Morsi won the presidency with less than 52 percent of the vote. Brotherhood officials depict the opposition as undemocratic, using the streets to try to overturn an elected leadership.
The extent of the estrangement was evident late Thursday when, in a televised speech, Morsi denounced what he called a "counter-revolution" led by remnants of Mubarak's regime.
Early Saturday, Morsi called on Egyptians to express their views "peacefully and freely," without violence. Writing on his Twitter account, he offered his condolences to the families of those killed and pledged to bring the culprits to justice.
His tweets appeared to be an attempt to project an image of himself as president of all Egyptians, in the face of repeated opposition claims that he has been biased in favor of the Brotherhood, from which he hails and to which he remains loyal.
Unlike in 2012, when both sides made a show of marking Jan. 25, the Brotherhood stayed off the streets on Friday's anniversary. The group said it was honoring the occasion with acts of public service, such as treating the sick and planting trees.
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Suck it up CBS, Hillary and the president have really failed at foreign policy for America and the world!
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I know all you fundies out there are looking for something, anything, to indicate the end of times is here and Geebus will come down from the clouds and relieve you of your miserable, home skooled existence but, .... this ain't it.
In the mean time, continue to be uneducated and unskilled, commit to financial obligations you cannot meet and have many more children than you can afford. Make sure they grow up just like you. Dump it all into the hands of Gawd and keep looking towards the sky.
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Actually it's an anomaly (my favorite programing word - buzzword compliant is a close second) until that doesn't fly and then it becomes a bug.
is there anything more bloodthirsty than Islam?
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try not to kid yourself bucko
Almost any religion will turn to depravity against their fellow man if given total control. After escaping persecution, and with no one looking over their shoulder the pilgrims put to death a lot of people who wouldn't totally conform or pizzoff their version of the mullahs.
After the American revolution Mass was still enough of a theocracy that the framers of the constitution separated church and state specifically with them in mind.
We could continue on to the inquisition..............