Angry protests leave 7 dead on Egypt anniversary: CAIRO (AP) — Violence erupted across Egypt on Friday as tens o...http://yhoo.it/SOnyGA
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Associated Press/Khalil Hamra - Egyptian protesters take cover as they clash with riot police, not seen, near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Two years after Egypt's revolution began, the …more
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CAIRO (AP) — Violence erupted across Egypt on Friday as tens of thousands took to the streets to deliver an angry backlash againstPresident Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, demanding regime change on the second anniversary of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. At least seven people were killed.
Two years to the day after protesters first rose up against the autocratic ex-president, the new phase of Egypt's upheaval was on display: the struggle between ruling Islamists and their opponents, played out against the backdrop of a worsening economy.
Rallies turned to clashes in multiple cities around Egypt, with police firing tear gas and protesters throwing stones. At least six people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in Suez, where protesters set ablaze a building that once housed the city's local government. Another person died in clashes in Ismailia, another Suez Canal city east of Cairo.
At least 480 people were injured nationwide, the Health Ministry said, including five with gunshot wounds in Suez, raising the possibility of a higher death toll.
Friday's rallies brought out at least 500,000 Morsi opponents, a small proportion of Egypt's 85 million people, but large enough to show that antipathy toward the president and his Islamist allies is strong in a country fatigued by two years of political turmoil, surging crime and an economy in free fall. Protests — and clashes — took place in at least 12 of Egypt's 27 provinces, including several Islamist strongholds.
"I will never leave until Morsi leaves," declared protester Sara Mohammed as she was treated for tear gas inhalation outside the presidential palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district. "What can possibly happen to us? Will we die? That's fine, because then I will be with God as a martyr. Many have died before us and even if we don't see change, future generations will."
