CAIRO - The death toll from the latest clashes between Islamist protesters and security forces in Egypt has risen to 17, a security official said Saturday, less than two weeks ahead of a key referendum on an amended constitution.
Meanwhile, 13 of the country’s most prominent rights groups issued a report condemning the authorities’ human-rights violations and recent arrests of political activists.
In Friday’s street battles, the deadliest in months, Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters in Cairo and other heavily populated residential areas threw firebombs and rocks at security forces who responded with water cannons and tear gas.
Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Fathallah said 62 people were injured in the violence.
The security off icial, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said police arrested 258 protesters and confiscated homemade bombs, firearms, knives, fireworks and Molotov cocktails.
Seventeen members of the security forces were injured in the clashes, and three vehicles and a traffic office in Egypt’s second-largest city of Alexandria were set on fire, he said.
The streets were mostly calm Saturday, and Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim warned that the police “will not tolerate assaults on thesafety of Egypt’s citizens.”
“The security apparatus will not leave Egypt hostage in the hands of the outlaws,” he said during a visit to a security training headquarters.
Street protests have been a regular event across the country since the military ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Brotherhood.
The government has designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist group and sought to drain its resources, ordering the seizure of assets from hundreds of nongovernmental groups suspected of having links to the Brotherhood. Hundreds of the group’s leaders and businessmen have had assets seized.
The Brotherhood has called for a boycott of the Jan. 14-15 referendum on the constitution drafted by a secular-leaning assembly and plans bigger rallies in the days ahead. A Muslim Brotherhood-led alliance has called on supporters to “continue the days of rage” and to mobilize protesters against the “illegitimate referendum.”
The Friday statement had a sectarian tone, accusing a Christian business tycoon and the founder of a liberal party of using militias against Islamists protesters.
Islamists have largelyblamed the mass protests that called for Morsi’s ouster on the country’s Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population.
Along with the crackdown on the Brotherhood, the military-backed interim government appears determined to silence other secular-leaning activists.
In a joint statement Saturday, 13 of the country’s most prominent rights groups documented “violent tactics” used in the arrest and detention of Egyptians - including activists - over the past weeks.
“Security forces have returned to violent tactics, arresting activists by breaking into their homes without prior search warrants,” said Rami Ghanem, head of the legal department at the organization Arab Mind for Law, Freedoms and Human Rights.
Security forces have cracked down on demonstrators breaching the government’s recent ban on protests without a permit, which authorities say is needed to bring peace to the streets after three years of political turmoil.
In the latest measures, an Alexandria court on Thursday sentenced seven activists to two years in prison on several charges including protesting without a permit and clashing with police last month.
Militant attacks and suicide bombings have surged in Egypt since Morsi’s ouster. The Al-Qaida-inspired group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.
On Saturday, a roadsidebomb killed one soldier and wounded three civilians when it went off next to a military motorcade near the border town of Sheikh Zuweid. A second bomb was found in the same area and dismantled.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned the Qatari ambassador in Cairo to “reject” Qatar’s recent statement about Egypt’s internal strife.
The decision follows a statement by the Qatari Foreign Ministry a day earlier expressing concerns about the increasing number of people killed at demonstrations in support of the ousted Islamist president.
It also denounced the latest government decision designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, saying “turning demonstrating into a terrorist action is useless in stopping the peaceful protests - instead it is a prelude to enacting a shoot-to-kill policy against the protesters.”
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said that the step is “unusual” when it comes to Arab countries.
He added, “Egypt reiterates once again that it will not permit to any foreign party to interfere in its internal affairs under any pretext … and holds any country or foreign party responsible of the consequences.”
Qatar was the main backer of Morsi.
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 01/05/2014