Three fatalities in Friday protests, 81 arrested nationwide

Two people were shot dead in the Nile Delta and at least 81 arrested nationwide on Friday, local media reported, during another round of clashes that broke out during Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated protests.

For the past several months, the banned Islamist organization and its supporters have been staging Friday protests almost every week against the military-backed interim government that removed former President Mohamed Morsi from power. The protests have often degenerated into fatal violence, and have prompted the mass arrest of thousands of demonstrators nationwide amidst a harsh state crackdown on Islamist groups.

The worst violence was concentrated in the north of the country on Friday. Two alleged Brotherhood supporters on motorbikes were reportedly killed in an exchange of gunfire with police forces after they attempted to light a police checkpoint on fire on the road between Tanta and Mahalla, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

Three others were reportedly arrested in the altercation.

The Muslim Brotherhood did not issue a comment on the incident. However, the group issued a statement published on the website of its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, saying that one of its members was killed in Alexandria.

The victim, Abdel Hakam al-Zamzami, 50, was fatally shot in the chest by security forces as they attempted to disperse a pro-Brotherhood protest, according to the statement.

Omar Nasr, an official in the Ambulance Authority, confirmed that one person was killed in in the Awayed area east of Alexandria.

While the fatalities were confined to the north of Cairo, violence swept across a number of other governorates. In major cities across the country, demonstrators chanted against presidential hopeful Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and raised the Rabea al-Adaweya icon before facing off against security forces.

Nine people were injured in Fayoum, the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY) reported, included two members of the Central Security Forces and one police recruit.

Fayoum Security Director Shafie Hassan said that roughly 1,000 Brotherhood supporters gathered in front of a mosque after Friday prayers and began pelting police forces with rocks and other weapons, said AMAY. The violence escalated into an exchange of birdshot before security forces dispersed the clashes with tear gas. 

Area residents allegedly helped the police arrest 11 people pursuant to the incident, five of whom were Brotherhood members, according to Hassan. 

Anti-Sisi protests in Monufiya resulted in the arrest of five alleged Brotherhood members, according to the governorate’s security director.  AMAY reported that two of the detainees were students. 

Eight others were also arrested in Qena on charges of raising the Rabea symbol, according to AMAY, while in Minya, police forces dispersed three different rallies across the province, the security director said in a telephone interview with a news talk show.

In Cairo, incidents of violence were scattered across the city, leading to dozens of injuries and arrests.

In the informal Dar al-Salam area of Maadi, protesters were arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms, AMAY said, citing the Interior Ministry’s media center. The situation in Dar al-Salam has been tense in recent days since the demolition of an illegally constructed building killed an unknown number of children earlier this week, sparking an outcry from area residents that has led to violent confrontations with authorities.

The scene in the Ezbat al-Nakhl area near the Ain Shams metro station was reportedly incendiary on Friday afternoon. Protesters allegedly threw Molotov cocktails and fireworks at security forces, who responded with tear gas, said AMAY. 

Clashes also broke out at Al-Azhar University, the site of some of the fiercest confrontations between Brotherhood allies and security forces in recent months. AMAY reported that hundreds of students blocked Nahas Street on Friday, leading to a tense face off with the police. 

Aside from the protest-spurred clashes, Friday witnessed another fatality when military forces reportedly killed Nur Hamideen, “one of the most dangerous takfiri figures,” in a shootout in the town of Sheikh Zuwayed in North Sinai, according to a statement from the Armed Forces spokesperson cited in the privately owned daily Al-Shorouk. 

Since Morsi’s ouster, the Armed Forces have waged an intensified security operation across the peninsula, targeting alleged Islamist extremists and terrorist cells.

Sisi was not deterred by Friday’s violence, however, Al-Shorouk reported. Sources in his campaign said that despite the security risks, Sisi would insist on personally submitting his endorsement documentation for the upcoming presidential election.