Scores injured in clashes as More Africa - Egypt marks revolution - TOP AFRICA STORIES

 

January 25, 2013 -- Updated 2051 GMT (0451 HKT)

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Scores injured in Cairo clashes

Cairo's Tahrir Square was again roiled by violent clashes between police and protesters Friday, as crowds gathered to mark two years since the start of the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. FULL STORY | VIDEO  

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Scores injured in clashes as Egypt marks revolution

Police fire teargas at stone-throwing protesters as supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsy clash in Cairo on the second anniversary of Egypt's revolution. FULL STORY

• Protesters rally in Tahrir Square  
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• Defterios: Egypt's painful transition

  Anti-Morsy protesters rally in Cairo

  STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • NEW: State news: 4 die when gunfire erupts amid pro-, anti-government clashes in Suez
  • NEW: At least 252 civilians, 31 police and security injured throughout Egypt
  • NEW: Security forces thwart attempted raids on security and government buildings
  • Clashes erupt around Cairo, including near the 2011 revolution hub of Tahrir Square
  Cairo (CNN) -- As was the case exactly two years ago before President Hosni Mubarak's ouster, streets around Egypt were roiled by deadly clashes Friday -- pitting protesters against both police and supporters of the nation's current leader.
  
  At least four people were killed in Suez, after gunfire erupted during clashes between anti-government protesters and those loyal to President Mohamed Morsy, according to official media outlets.
  It was not clear which group those killed belonged to or who was responsible. The head of security in Suez denied his forces fired on protesters, state-run Nile TV reported.
  The unrest was hardly confined to the coastal city of Suez, on the northern tip of the Red Sea. Nationwide, Egypt's health ministry said that at least 252 civilians as well as 31 police officers and security forces had been injured, according to Nile TV.
  The violence comes as Egypt continues its struggle to find stability, security and harmony after the ouster of Mubarak, who in his 30 years of ruling Egypt was accused of vigorously clamping down on dissent. He has been given a life sentence for his role in the killings of peaceful protesters demanding his exit, though he will get a new trial in April, the state-run MENA news agency reported this month.
  Morsy, who became the North African country's first democratically elected president last year, has since become a target for some who say he hasn't been inclusive or true to the revolution's goals and claim, instead, he's amassed power for him and his Islamist allies. A leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that was banned under Mubarak, before he rose to power, Morsy has defended his moves as necessary to move Egypt forward in the face of pressing issues and persistent obstacles.
  On Friday, state TV reported security forces had thwarted attempts to raid security headquarters in Faiyum, a city about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Cairo. Other security forces turned back pushes on government buildings in Damietta, Kafr el-Sheikh and Gharbia, as well as Suez.
  In the city of Ismailiya, protesters torched the main office of the Freedom and Justice Party -- the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing -- state TV reported.
  And the coastal city of Alexandria was the site of clashes between opponents and supporters, multiple eyewitnesses told CNN.
  Read more: Opinion: U.S gets it wrong on Egypt again
  Protests, violence near Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square
  Then, there was Cairo -- and specifically Tahrir Square, the hub of the popular movement that helped unseat Mubarak on January 25, 2011.
  Back then, protesters had spilled into the streets around that major intersection in an unprecedented display of anti-government rage.
  At one point, the activist masses in the world's largest Arab nation broke through riot police who had lined Tahrir, or Liberation, Square. Police lobbed tear gas and used water cannon, but the protesters were undaunted.
  Since then, the square has continued to be a focal point for demonstrations for Egyptians from all factions.
  That was true again Friday, and by afternoon an estimated 10,000 liberals, moderates and secularists had gathered there to vent their anger at Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood for -- in their view -- hijacking the revolution.
  One pocket of violence broke out a few blocks from the square, where police erected a barrier of concrete blocks on a street leading to the Interior Ministry and other government buildings.
  Young protesters threw rocks over the barrier at officers stationed there, who responded sporadically with tear gas or threw stones themselves.
  At least 29 people were treated for cuts, broken bones and birdshot injuries, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled El Khatib said. Six police officers were also hurt in the disorder near Tahrir Square, according to the Interior Ministry.
  Egyptian police also fired tear gas to disperse protesters who tried to cross barbed wire outside the presidential palace, which is in the northeast of Cairo, Nile TV reported.
  Read related: Egyptians pack Tahrir Square for revelry, protests a year after historic revolt
  Journalist Ramy Francis and CNN's Reza Sayah reported from Cairo; Greg Botelho wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Laura Smith-Spark, Yousuf Basil and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.
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