Sides clash over Egypt’s leader

Violence in Cairo’s Tahrir Square leaves more than 100 hurt

A protester hurls a stone Friday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during clashes between backers and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. More than 100 people were injured in the first such violence since the Islamist president assumed power in late June.
A protester hurls a stone Friday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during clashes between backers and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. More than 100 people were injured in the first such violence since the Islamist president assumed power in late June.

— Thousands of supporters and opponents of Egypt’s new Islamist president clashed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday in the first such violence since Mohammed Morsi took office more than three months ago, as angry liberal and secular activists accused the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to take over the country.

The two sides hurled stones and chunks of concrete and beat each other with sticks for several hours, leaving more than 100 injured, according to the state news agency. Two buses used by the Brotherhood to bring in supporters were set aflame behind the Egyptian Museum, the repository of the country’s pharaonic antiquities, and thick black smoke billowed into the sky in scenes reminiscent of last year’s clashes between protesters against the regime of then-leader Hosni Mubarak and his backers.

The melee broke out between two competing rallies in Tahrir Square. One was by liberal and secular activists to criticize what they said was Morsi’s failure to achieve promises he had made for his first 100 days in power. The other rally had been called by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

The clashes come as criticism among leftists, liberals and secularists against Morsi has been growing since he was inaugurated more than three months ago as Egypt’s first freely elected president. Opponents accuse Morsi, the Brotherhood and other Islamists of trying to impose their dominance and Islamize the state, including through the writing of a new constitution.

Some Egyptians are also frustrated that Morsi, a longtime Brotherhood figure, has not done more to resolve the multiple problems facing the country - from a faltering economy and fuel shortages to tenuous security and uncollected piles of garbage in the streets.

Morsi boasted earlier this week in a nationally televised speech that he had carried out much of what he had promised for his first 100 days, and his supporters say he needs time in the face of overwhelming difficulties inherited from Mubarak’s authoritarian and corruption-riddled rule.

One anti-Brotherhood protester in Tahrir Square, Abdullah Waleed, said he had voted for Morsi in this year’s election to prevent his opponent - a longtime Mubarak loyalist - from winning.

“Now I regret it because they are just two faces of the same coin,” Waleed said. “Morsi has done nothing for the revolution. I want to say I am so sorry for bringing in another repressive regime.”

Violence also broke out in the industrial city of Mahalla el-Kobra, a hotbed of regime opponents and labor activists in the Nile Delta renowned for its history of revolts against Mubarak. Protesters torched headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city and set fire to Morsi posters.

Days ago, liberal and leftist groups had called for Friday’s protest in Tahrir Square to demand accountability over Morsi’s three-month rule. They also demand greater diversity on the panel tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution, which is packed with Brotherhood members and other Islamists who have proposed provisions opponents say greatly suppress civil liberties.

The Brotherhood called for a separate rally to denounce the acquittals earlier this week of 24 former senior figures from Mubarak’s regime who had been accused of organizing a deadly attack on protesters during last year’s Jan. 25-Feb.11 wave of protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster.

The Brotherhood rally was to call for judicial changes and to support a move by Morsi on Thursday to remove the prosecutor general, who has been widely criticized for preparing shoddy cases against Mubarak-era politicians and police. Buses organized by the Brotherhood had ferried in supporters from the provinces for the rally.

But the secular camp accused the Brotherhood of holding the gathering to “hijack” the square from their anti-Morsi protest.

The violence broke out when Morsi supporters stormed a stage set up by the rival camp, angered by chants they perceived as insults to the president. The Islamist backers smashed loudspeakers and tore the wooden stage down, witnesses said.

The uproar ensued as more supporters of the liberal-secular rally poured into the square. Young men from both sides tore up chunks of concrete and paving stones to hurl while others hit one another with sticks. Gunshots were heard. Youths making V-for-victory signs with their hands set fire to two empty buses of the Brotherhood.

“My conclusion here is that Morsi is just the president of the Brotherhood, that’s all. We are back to square one,” since Mubarak’s fall, said Sayed al-Hawari, who carried a plank of wood as a shield against the volleys of stones.

A Morsi supporter, in turn, accused the other camp of being “thugs” who chanted against the leader of the Brotherhood and harassed the Islamists during noon prayers in Tahrir Square.

“We have to give Morsi a chance,” 19-year-old Moez Naggar said. “The more protests we have, the less we can expect from him.”

A schoolteacher who said he belongs to the Brotherhood expressed dismay over the violence, saying he was surprised by the other camp’s anger at Morsi. Sherif Mahmoud pointed to Morsi’s attempt to remove the prosecutor general, who many across the ideological spectrum have said should be sacked.

“The prosecutor general is a corrupt man,” Mahmoud said. “The president is moving step by step.”

Around nightfall, fighting stopped as the Brotherhood supporters left the square in buses.

Rashad Bayoumi, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the scene around Tahrir Square “is something everyone is ashamed of.”

Front Section, Pages 6 on 10/13/2012

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