One man was killed in clashes between supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and police forces on Sunday in El-Maymoun village in Beni Suef governorate, according to the Ministry of Interior.
Abdullah Radi, 21, allegedly fired a gun against police officers as they tried to detain him, but was then killed when they returned fire. The ministry added that another three individuals were arrested during the clashes.
The raid was a part of a security campaign in the governorate “to counter all illegal practices and arrest suspects in the village”.
State media reported that police and army forces raided the village to break up a family feud, when members of the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood attacked the security convoy with homemade shotguns and fireworks.
Ihab Khater, 6 April coordinator in the city of Beni Suef, said that the El-Maymoun village is considered “one of the strongholds of the Muslim Brotherhood” and that anti-government protests there are frequent.
Khater added that during the campaign, some residents were provoked by the presence of the police and started to attack the forces. “That is when the clashes started and the killing happened,” he said.
However, the mother of the deceased told Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel, which is often accused of pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias and opposing the current Egyptian regime, that her son was shot on his way to work while the clashes were taking place. She said she held the government responsible for his death.
The Anti-Coup Alliance (ACA), a group of Islamist parties formed in support of former president Mohamed Morsi, mourned the deceased, adding “we hold the leaders of the coup responsible for the consequences of the storming of El-Maymoun village.
The group also condemned what it described as the escalation of violence by the state.
Two students were killed in clashes with security forces on Friday, one in the Ain Shams suburb of Cairo and the other in the town of Fayoum, southeast of Cairo.
Since Morsi’s ouster in July 2013, protests and street clashes have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of protesters and scores of police personnel.
