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| Nine protesters dead in clashes on anniversary of Egypt uprising - Reuters Posted: 25 Jan 2014 08:44 AM PST (Reuters) - Nine people were killed during anti-government marches on Saturday while thousands rallied in support of the army-led authorities, underlining Egypt's volatile political fissures three years after the fall of autocrat President Hosni Mubarak. Security forces lobbed teargas and some fired automatic weapons in the air to try to prevent demonstrators opposed to the government reaching Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled the former air force commander. As police tried to calm Cairo's politically-charged streets, a car bomb exploded near a police camp in the Egyptian city of Suez, security sources said. The blast, which was followed by a fierce exchange of gunfire, suggested the authorities could be locked in a long-term battle with Islamist insurgents who are gaining momentum. But the growing violence has not dented the popularity of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose ouster of Islamist Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first freely-elected president, plunged the country into turmoil. Instead of commemorating Mubarak's overthrow, tens of thousand of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir to pledge their support for Sisi in an event stage-managed by the state. An army marching band played, while vendors sold t-shirts with the general's image for five Egyptian pounds ($0.72). Huge banners and posters displayed Sisi in his trademark dark sunglasses at Saturday's rally. Some women kissed posters. The core demands of the 2011 revolt - freedom and social justice - could only be heard in protests outside Tahrir, which were quickly muzzled by security forces. The Sisi mania underscored the prevailing desire for a decisive military man Egyptians can count on to stabilise Egypt. But an end to street violence seemed nowhere in sight. Not far from Tahrir, police in black uniforms clutching assault rifles fired tear gas canisters in a clampdown on anti-government protesters lasting for about two hours. Six protesters were killed in different parts of the capital, where armored personnel carriers were deployed to try and keep order, and anyone entering Tahrir had to pass through metal detectors. In the southern town of Minya, two people were killed in clashes between Mursi supporters and security forces, said Brigadier General Hisham Nasr, director of criminal investigations in the regional police department. A woman was killed in Egypt's second city of Alexandria during clashes between supporters of Mursi and security forces. The pressure prompted one alliance of liberals to call on their members to withdraw from the streets. But others gathered in central Cairo after nightfall to call for an end to the army-backed government. "Down with military rule," they chanted. Sisi toppled Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July after mass protests against what critics called his mismanagement and increasingly arbitrary rule, triggering a confrontation with the veteran Islamist movement that has hit investment hard. SISI TIPPED TO RUN FOR, WIN PRESIDENCY The general, who served as head of military intelligence under Mubarak, is expected to announce his candidacy for the presidency soon and likely to win by a landslide in elections, expected within six months. Several leading politicians have indicated they would not run for president if Sisi does, highlighting his dominance and the barren political landscape that has emerged since Mubarak's fall. The most vocal critics of the new order - the Brotherhood - have been driven underground. The army congratulated Egyptians on the anniversary of the 2011 uprising and said it would help people build on the gains of what it calls the June 30 Revolution, a reference to the street unrest that prompted the army to oust Mursi. Such messages have wide appeal for people like Shadia Mohamed Ahmed, a veiled middle-aged woman holding a poster of Sisi in Tahrir. She said "criminals" who commit violent acts against Egypt should be "executed in a public square." The crowd around her called for the execution of Brotherhood members. Tensions have been smouldering anew since a wave of deadly bombings killed six people in Cairo on Friday. An al Qaeda-inspired group, based in the lawless Sinai Peninsula, claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring organization. In an audio message posted on militant websites, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Egyptian Muslims to focus on fighting what he called "an Americanised coup" staged by Sisi instead of battling the country's minority Christians. The leader of the Coptic Christian church backed Sisi's military takeover. Early on Saturday a bomb exploded near a Cairo police academy. No one was hurt, said the Interior Ministry. TEAR GAS AND BIRDSHOT Some didn't have the chance to express their views. Police fired live rounds in the air to disperse about 1,000 anti-government protesters in Cairo's Mohandiseen district and at two other marches in downtown. Hisham Sadiq, a university student, said he was protesting against "military rule and the thugs of the Interior Ministry". At one rally, the crowd yelled "the people want the downfall of the regime!" - a common chant during the 18-day revolt that ousted Mubarak - before running from tear gas. Dozens of anti-government protesters were arrested in Egypt's second city Alexandria, security sources said. When he removed Mursi, Sisi promised a political roadmap that would lead to free and fair elections. But the Muslim Brotherhood says Sisi and his allies in the government have blood on their hands and accuse them of undermining democratic gains made since Mubarak's downfall. Security forces have killed up to 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood supporters and put the movement's top leaders in jail. The Brotherhood, which renounced violence in the 1970s, has been declared a terrorist group. But the tough measures have failed to pacify Egypt, which is of great strategic importance because of its peace treaty with Israel and control over the Suez Canal. Sinai-based Islamist militants have stepped up attacks against security forces since Sisi toppled Mursi. Hundreds have been killed. The security crackdown has been extended to secular-minded liberals, including ones who played a key role in the 2011 uprising. Human rights groups have accused the Egyptian authorities of quashing dissent and using excessive force, calling state violence since Mursi's ouster unprecedented. Egypt's most prominent rights groups criticized the government for using the "purported aim of 'countering terrorism' as justification to commit arbitrary arrests and restrict freedoms." Although the Brotherhood has been nearly crushed by the state, the group has a history of rebounding. "Their soft, non-ideological support from Egyptian society has collapsed but their most energized core remains more zealous than ever," said Michael Hanna of the Century Foundation in New York. "The Brotherhood and its supporters are not something that can be swept aside easily they have a substantial and resilient core." ($1 = 6.9619 Egyptian pounds) (Additional reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Michael Georgy and Sophie Hares) |
| UPDATE 1-Ukrainian opposition meet Yanukovich after overnight violence - Reuters Posted: 25 Jan 2014 08:36 AM PST * Opposition leaders meet Yanukovich for fresh talks * Radicals clash with police overnight, then truce * Other protesters allow only 'essential staff' into energy ministry * Big anti-government rally expected over weekend By Richard Balmforth and Jack Stubbs KIEV, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Ukrainian opposition leaders held fresh talks with President Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday after overnight clashes between radical protesters and police, and an attempt by other activists to occupy the main energy ministry building. Major rallies were expected to take place in the centre of Kiev later this weekend despite promises by Yanukovich to reshuffle the government and promote changes to sweeping anti-protest legislation. A statement on the presidential website said the three opposition leaders - boxer Vitaly Klitschko, former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok - were in talks with Yanukovich on settling the two months of anti-government unrest. But tension stayed high with Ukraine's interior minister saying that all those who stayed on Kiev's Independence Square - the crucible of the protest where hundreds camp overnight - and occupied public buildings would be considered by police to be "extremist groups". Police would use force against those who went over to the side of the radical protesters, who have clashed with police in front of Dynamo Kiev football stadium since last Sunday, the minister, Vitaly Zakharcheno, said in a statement. Adding to tension, Klitschko's Udar party tweeted that it believed a police order had been given already for police to storm the protest zones. Radical protesters overnight lobbed petrol bombs, fireworks and other projectiles at police lines, despite the apparent concessions by Yanukovich, before a morning truce was called. The overnight violence near Dynamo Kiev's stadium, the new flashpoint in unrest convulsing the former Soviet republic, left fires burning and smoke billowing over the area. Protesters kept up a drum-beat of sticks on corrugated metal. Though the violence died out in early morning after a negotiated truce, about half a mile away (one kilometre away), protesters stormed into the energy ministry. "There was an attempt to seize the building. About 100 people came, armed. I went to them and said that if they did not peacefully leave the building, then the whole energy system of Ukraine could collapse," Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky told Reuters by telephone. Stavytsky, who was shown on TV Fifth Channel angrily remonstrating with a black-helmeted activist, added: "What is taking place is a direct threat to the whole Ukrainian energy system." A group of masked men wearing battle-fatigues and sticks maintained a blockade outside the building. "We are here to check who goes in an out. We are allowing through only staff who are absolutely essential for the safe running of the ministry," one of them, 23-year-old Andriy, told Reuters. TENSIONS HIGH Hundreds of activists have already occupied City Hall and the agricultural ministry, both close to the energy ministry building, in increasingly violent protests against Yanukovich's rule. The rallies against Yanukovich erupted last November after he pulled out of a free trade deal with the European Union in favour of closer economic ties with Russia. They have since spiralled into protests against misrule and corruption. Though the protest movement - known as the "EuroMaidan" - is largely peaceful, a hardcore of radicals have been fighting pitched battles with police away from the main protest on Independence Square. Adding to tensions, the opposition raised the prospect of a state of emergency being declared and the interior minister admonished the opposition leaders for not reining in radical protesters. "They can no longer control the radical elements who have occupied government buildings and are promoting violence," said Zakharchenko and he urged the international community not to "turn a blind eye' to what was taking place. Overnight one policeman was shot in the head and three more were kidnapped on Independence Square, the statement said. But the interior ministry later said that at least two of those held had been released after the intervention of peaceful demonstrators and diplomats. RUSSIA WARNING The United States has warned Yanukovich that his failure to ease the standoff could have "consequences" for its relationship with Ukraine. Germany, France and other Western governments have also urged him to talk to the opposition. Russia on Saturday stepped up its warnings against international interference in Ukraine, telling European Union officials to prevent outside meddling and cautioning the United States against inflammatory statements. "I told (U.S. Secretary of State) John Kerry that is very important now not to interfere in the process and to avoid any statements that will only heat up the situation," said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "I hoped he heard me," he said, in an interview with Vesti v Subbotu state television news programme. The EU's point man on Ukraine, Stefan Fule, who was in Kiev on Friday and met Yanukovich as well as opposition leaders, said his talks "showed the need for a series of concrete steps to first start to rebuild trust of people by stopping the spiral of violence and intimidation". EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is scheduled to visit Kiev next week. |
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