Morsi backers, police clash; 5 die

Egyptian officials enlist families to face off against Islamists

A plainclothes police officer, left, detains one of the supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi following their demonstration in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 27, 2013. Egyptian security forces fired tear gas and clashed with hundreds of Morsi supporters around the country Friday as authorities tightened security measures in the capital after Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its allies renewed calls for mass rallies. (AP Photo/El Shorouk newspaper, Ahmed Abd El Latif) EGYPT OUT

A plainclothes police officer, left, detains one of the supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi following their demonstration in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 27, 2013. Egyptian security forces fired tear gas and clashed with hundreds of Morsi supporters around the country Friday as authorities tightened security measures in the capital after Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its allies renewed calls for mass rallies. (AP Photo/El Shorouk newspaper, Ahmed Abd El Latif) EGYPT OUT

Saturday, December 28, 2013

CAIRO - With water cannons and tear gas, Egyptian riot police battled Friday with hundreds of rock-throwing supporters of former President Mohammed Morsi in clashes across the country that left five dead, according to officials.

Meanwhile, authorities unveiled a tactic to contain protests by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group and its allies, calling on large families to post armed men near the likely sites of demonstrations.

The day’s demonstrations came after an announcement by authorities that they will use the Brotherhood’s new designation as a terrorist organization to levy harsh prison sentences on protesters.

In at least seven southern provinces, security and local officials said authorities turned to armed civilians from anti-Islamist and pro-government families to provide support for security forces, help guard police stations and churches, and confront pro-Morsi rallies.

One high-ranking Interior Ministry official said the move is part of a bigger deal between the security apparatus and the big clans in the south, the most conservative part of Egypt, which has a strong tradition both of interfamily feuding and of Islamist militancy.

Under the tactic, families would hand over heavy weapons to the government but would be allowed to carry lighter ones when facing off with Islamists, and in return authorities would support candidates from those families in forthcoming parliamentary elections.

The tactic is not new in Egypt. In the 1990s, during the Islamic insurgency against President Hosni Mubarak, the government formed so-called popular committees in which relatives of ruling-party members, parliamentarians and other prominent government allies helped expel militants from towns and cities.

In Cairo, riot police chased rock-throwing student protesters chanting against the military and the police at the Islamic Al-Azhar University. In a second district of Alf Maskan, an Associated Press cameraman saw Islamist protesters hurling Molotov cocktails and fireworks at security forces while civilians, on the police side, hurled stones. The street was littered with rocks, shattered glass and black soot.

In a statement, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said a total of three people were killed. It said 265 protesters, including women, were arrested. Two security officials in the southern cities of Minya and Aswan said two pro-Morsi supporters were killed in clashes, bringing the total number of deaths to five.

Authorities in armored vehicles had earlier closed main squares and city centers in Cairo and other major cities in preparation for expected rallies protesting the labeling of the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The announcement was meant to further cripple the group before a Jan. 14-15 vote on a draft constitution seen by the interim government as a milestone in the transition plan.

The terrorist designation, which the government announced Wednesday, outlawed the more-than-80-year-old Islamist movement, imposing prison terms for belonging to or promoting the Brotherhood and potentially imposing the death penalty for those convicted of being leaders in the movement.

After the declaration, a security spokesman said any participants in Brotherhood rallies can be sentenced to five years in prison, according to anti-terrorism laws.

The decision reflected the ascendance of hard-liners in the military-backed government, who favored eradicating the Brotherhood after the ouster of Morsi. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy to express concern about the designation and the recent arrests, the State Department said.

There were indications the Egyptian government had taken on more than it could handle by outlawing the Brotherhood and anyone associated with it, including a network of social-service organizations and charities that provide services to millions of Egyptians.

On Thursday, Egyptian officials partially reversed a decision to freeze the assets of more than 1,000 of the nongovernmental groups, saying they could continue operating. Questions remained, however, about how the government would disburse the frozen assets.

Since Morsi was ousted in a military coup July 3 after millions demonstrated, demanding his removal, the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies have held constant protests, though numbers have sharply decreased after a crackdown on the group.

The terrorist label came after a suicide bombing Tuesday in a Nile Delta city that killed 16 and wounded 100, mostly policemen. A second blast took place Thursday in Cairo, hitting a bus and injuring passengers.

The government accused the Brotherhood of being behind Tuesday’s bombing, a claim the group denies.An al-Qaida-inspired group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or the Champions of Jerusalem, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s suicide attack and vowed more.

The government has provided no strong evidence that links the Brotherhood to militant groups or that connects it to attacks against security services that have resulted in the deaths of more than 170 police officers since August. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has taken responsibility for some of the most brazen violence and emerged as the face of a spreading insurgency the government has struggled to contain.

But during Morsi’s year in power, he allied with radical groups and sent envoys to militant leaders for a truce in the volatile Sinai Peninsula in return for halting a military offensive.

After Morsi’s ouster, the military launched a major offensive in the Sinai Peninsula against suspected militants, sweeping through hideouts in villages near the borders with the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Information for this article was contributed by Mamdouh Thabit and Maggie Michael of The Associated Press and Kareem Fahim of The New York Times.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/28/2013