Cairo: Gunfire broke out Thursday between police and protesters opposed to construction of a cell phone tower south of Giza, and one man was killed and 20 people were wounded, authorities said.
Several thousand residents of Kafr Turk, a town about 19 miles south of Cairo s twin city of Giza, had gathered to protest an attempt by Orascom Telecom – the owner of the MobiNil cell phone company operator in Egypt – to erect the tower in the area.
The angry residents were afraid that exposure to electronic signals from the tower would cause health problems.
Ahmad Hamdan, 42, was killed by random gunfire, said a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The official said that police fired into the air in defense. The police were called in to protect MobiNil company employees.
The area was cordoned off Thursday evening by police to guard against more unrest.
