Two people were critically wounded after fresh clashes erupted between supporters and opponents of beleaguered president Mohamed Morsi in the late hours of Saturday in Egypt’s industrial city Mahalla.

Bearded men were seen firing rounds in the air to disperse an anti-Morsi protest in the Nile Delta City, which is located in the Gharbiya governorate, witnesses told Ahram’s Arabic-language news website.

The protest, which was interrupted in El-Banzioun square in Mahalla, endorsed the ultimate demand of the anticipated 30 June demonstration against Morsi’s rule – a call for snap presidential elections.

The office of Salafist Nour party in the city was subsequently attacked by angry demonstrators after two men were severely injured, according to party official Ahmed El-Qattan.

“They ransacked the office and then torched it. It remains under siege, and the police have refused to intervene,” he said in a phone interview with satellite channel Al-Hayat.

Mahmoud Haroun, a Mahalla resident and member of the Revolutionary Socialists, who took part in the protest, told Ahram Online that the two people who were injured in Saturday’s clashes were taken to a hospital in a critical condition.

Contrary to Qattan's account, Haroun said the demonstrators attacked the Nour office in retaliation after they were shot by people inside the office.

Mounting tensions

Nour declined to join a mass rally to support Morsi on Friday in Cairo, saying it would only add to already mounting tensions. The party said it opposes many of the president’s decisions but did not endorse the call for early presidential elections.

"We are not accusing anybody [of involvement in attack on Nour office], this is the police role. We will not be dragged into a war with anyone," Nour spokesman Nader Bakkar told Ahram Online.

"The party's relationship with revolutionary forces in Mahalla is very good, and nothing could affect that." 

There were also scuffles on Friday that left two Salafists critically injured and saw anti-Morsi demonstrators hand over a 34-year-old man to police after he attempted to shoot at protesters.

Earlier on Saturday, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said that a Gamaa Islamiya member had died from gunshot wounds in Egypt's central Fayoum governorate, pointing the finger at opposition forces.

Several pro-Morsi and anti-Morsi demonstrations have been held over the past months in the build-up to 30 June, which is expected to witness mass rallies by opposition to demand snap presidential elections.

The Rebel petition campaign, which declared it had collected 15 million signatures for withdrawing confidence from the president, was first to call for the 30 June demonstrations. All opposition forces including the main opposition umbrella of the National Salvation Front (NSF) had adopted the call.

Islamists in support of the president have in turn launched a petition in support of Morsi.

Opponents and supporters of Morsi have engaged in several clashes across Egypt for the past seven months. The deadliest one occurred in December in front of the presidential palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district, which left 10 people dead from both sides.