Four dead, 169 arrested during Friday marches

Protesters run away from tear gas during clashes between supporters and opponents of deposed president Mohamed Morsi following a protest by Islamist supporters calling for Morsi's reinstatement on January 10, 2014 in the Nasr city district of the Egyptian capital Cairo. Three people were killed in Egypt in clashes and police arrested dozens of Islamists across the country, security officials said. ( AFP PHOTO KHALED KAMEL) — Protesters run away from tear gas during clashes between supporters and opponents of deposed president Mohamed Morsi following a protest by Islamist supporters calling for Morsi’s reinstatement on January 10, 2014 in the Nasr city district of the Egyptian capital Cairo.
( AFP PHOTO KHALED KAMEL)

By Ali Omar

The Ministry of Health announced Saturday that four were killed in Friday clashes between protesters and security forces backed by local residents. At least two of the three deaths in occurred in Suez’s Faisal district, and the fourth was in Alexandria.

State owned Al-Ahram claimed the death in Alexandria was a street vendor who was shot in the back. The shooter, an alleged Muslim Brotherhood member, was arrested shortly after, the paper reported.

Nationwide, arrests totaled at 169, six of which apprehended in Cairo with six Molotov cocktails and six gas masks. Numerous police vehicles were destroyed in Cairo and Alexandria.

Most of the protests were dispersed with tear gas.

Many of the marches called for a boycott of the upcoming referendum, which Muslim Brotherhood supporters see as illegitimate.

The violence was tame in comparison to last Friday’s marches, which saw 14 killed and 235 arrested, making it the bloodiest day in Egypt since clashes commemorating the 40^th anniversary of the October War left 53 dead.

Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Friday that Defence Minister Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi approved a plan for more than 160,000 soldiers to secure the nation’s 30,317 polling stations for the upcoming referendum.