Clashes kill 29 as Egypt marks 2011 uprising
At least 29 people were killed in Egypt during rival rallies on anniversary of 2011 revolt.
CAIRO (AFP) - At least 29 people were killed in clashes in Egypt Saturday during rival rallies on the anniversary of the 2011 revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak, underscoring the country's violent polarisation.
Three years after Egyptians rose up to demand the overthrow of Mubarak, thousands of demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square chanted slogans backing another military man, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as police clashed with Islamists and activists elsewhere.
The 29 people were killed in fighting across Egypt when police and supporters of the military-installed government clashed with Islamist backers of president Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed in July after a single turbulent year in power.
Egypt was already on edge after four bombs exploded in Cairo on Friday, including a massive blast outside police headquarters.
The attacks, which were claimed by a Sinai-based extremist group, killed six people.
Hours before Saturday's rallies, a small bomb outside a police training centre in north Cairo wounded one person, while another 16 were wounded when a car bomb exploded beside a police base in the canal city of Suez, according to the health ministry.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, an Al-Qaeda-inspired group, claimed Friday's bombings, all of which targeted police, and urged Egyptian "Muslims" to stay away from police buildings.
Security forces across Cairo moved quickly to disperse scattered pro-Morsi protests while welcoming demonstrators to sanctioned commemorations.
In the Muhandiseen district, police fired tear gas and birdshot at anti-government protesters outside a mosque, scattering them into side streets.
Gunfire could be heard late into the night in the Alf Maskan neighbourhood, where some of Saturday's deadliest fighting took place, a witness said.
Of the 29 people killed, 26 died in Cairo and its suburbs, health ministry spokesman Ahmed Kamel told AFP. Another 168 people were wounded, and police said 725 suspected protesters were arrested.
One of the dead in Cairo was a member of the April 6 movement which spearheaded the uprising against Mubarak and had also opposed Morsi, a member of the group told AFP.
"The regime has substantial and now energised support, a majority of the politically active citizens of this country," said Michael Hanna, an expert on Egypt with The Century Foundation, a US-based think tank.
"But there are still resilient sources of opposition that they are choosing to deal with violently."
Police, who have killed hundreds of Islamist protesters in street clashes since Morsi's overthrow, have vowed to halt all such demonstrations.
But they encouraged Egyptians to turn out in support of the government, and some politicians called for rallies to back Sisi, the general who overthrew Morsi and whose popularity has skyrocketed among Egyptians craving stability after three years of turmoil.
The Islamist Anti-Coup Alliance which backs Morsi also urged its supporters in a statement to continue their "revolutionary movement" on Sunday in Cairo and other provinces.
