Police forcefully disperse MB protests in Beheira

Riot police were deployed in Beheira governorate to disperse protests organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies in a number of towns and villages across the Nile Delta province on Wednesday. The crackdowns are reported to have led to several injuries, along with at least three arrests.

According to reports issued by the police and state-owned Middle East News Agency, three arrests took place near the town of Edku, where members of the Brotherhood and the Anti-Coup Alliance were organizing a human chain to protest against the mass arrests of fellow Islamists, while also demanding the release and reinstatement of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. Riot police forces are reported to have fired teargas on the protesters.

Marches in the Etaiy al-Baroud, Abu Hummos and Kafr al-Dawwar were also forcefully dispersed, although no arrests have yet been reported.

Elsewhere in the governorate, security sources reported on Wednesday that a bomb-scare at the railway station in the provincial capital of Damanhour turned out to be a false alarm. An abandoned plastic bag containing suspicious contents led to the evacuation of the railway station, which was quickly cordoned-off.

A bomb squad was deployed to the station, yet the suspected bomb turned out to be a bagful of clothing. Following a lengthy disruption of railway traffic, trains began to flow through the station again.

Also in Damanhour, Beheira’s Governor Mustafa Hadhood received a delegation from the United Kingdom’s Consulate General to Alexandria to discuss future cooperation and joint-development projects for the Nile Delta Governorate.

Meanwhile, female students from Al-Azhar University in Damanhour are reported to have marched to campus administration to demand the release of hundreds of jailed Islamist students, along with the former president’s reinstatement.

In Giza, at least three Islamist student protesters were arrested during protests around Cairo University.

Security sources cited in numerous media reports mention that students were shooting birdshot at the riot police from within the campus, which led police to fire teargas canisters to disperse them.

State-owned radio stations referred to the Brotherhood and their student protesters as “terrorists” seeking to disrupt the academic process in Egypt’s universities.

Authorities officially classified the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization on December 25.

Altogether on Wednesday, at least six members of the Anti-Coup Alliance were arrested in Giza and Beheira Governorates, while an untold number of others were injured. Health Ministry sources reported two deaths during the student-led protests — One 14-year-old in Beni Suef and another outside Al-Azhar University in Nasr City, Cairo.

The Anti-Coup Alliance, along with eyewitnesses, also reported that several of the affiliated student protesters were suffering from police-inflicted shotgun wounds and teargas inhalation.