Clashes between the government and residents of Quorsaya, an Island across from the Cairo distict of Maadi, led to the death of one person and the injury of over a dozen, according to Al-Ahram's Arabic news website.
Reports said a crackdown by the Egyptian army Sunday morning to wrest part of the 500 feddan land in dispute from residents prompted some residents to block traffic in Al-Bahr Al-Aazam Road in Giza, leading to clashes.
Al-Ahram's Arabic portal said that five army soldiers and eight Queorsaya residents were injured. Troops reportedly fired in the air to disperse the crowd while protesters set fire to tires in the middle of the road.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights said on its Facebook page that four have been killed so far. The group claimed that "army forces are detaining a number of Quorsaya citizens and assaulting them using electric batons."
Aswat Masriyya, a Reuters news website on Egyptian affairs, said the clashes started when residents of the Island tried to retake four feddans under army control since 2007 despite a 2010 court ruling stipulating the residents' right to use the land.
The Quorsaya land feud dates back to 2007 when Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's government, under the rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, attempted to force residents off the land, followed by an army intervention.
Activists, artists and intellectuals took part in solidarity campaigns and yearly events to defend residents' "rights to the land."
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