Second day of Egypt violence sees security forces targeted

Ahram Online, Thursday 15 Aug 2013

A number of police stations and security checkpoints were attacked, leaving several police personnel dead

Clashes continued for the second day in Egypt following the dispersal of two large protest camps by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo on Wednesday, and the eruption of subsequent violent clashes all over the country.

Official counts on Thursday night put the death toll from the previous day’s violence at over 600, with almost 4,000 injured.

The town of Meet Salsil in Daqahliya witnessed clashes between locals manning informal checkpoints and Morsi supporters on Thursday. As a pro-Morsi march approached the main square in the Nile Delta town, stones were thrown by the two groups and street fights broke out.

In Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate, also in the Nile Delta, security forces halted an attempt by Muslim Brotherhood supporters to break into the police station in Kellin city. Residents in the city also apprehended passengers in a car who were throwing stones at police and passersby.  

Seven men, reportedly Muslim Brotherhood members, were arrested attempting to break into the National Security office in the Nile Delta city of Damietta after throwing Molotov cocktails at the building. The office was slightly damaged.

In Fayoum, south of Cairo, pro-Morsi protestors stormed the Church of St. Tawadros in the village of Desia and set it on fire. Three other churches in the governorate were stormed on Wednesday, in addition to a monastery and a building owned by a bible society.

In the Suez canal city of Ismailiya, an exchange of fire between police protecting the court building and pro-Morsi protestors left one passer-by injured in the foot. The latest reports suggest the situation in the city is unstable.

In the governorate of Beheira in Upper Egypt, clashes erupted between residents and pro-Morsi protestors in Kafr Al-Dawwar city. Dozens were injured in the violence.

Beheira had seen violent clashes on Wednesday between police and Morsi supporters which left several injured and one person dead.  

Assiut governorate, also in Upper Egypt, saw a policeman killed following clashes at the police station in Sahel Selim. The policeman died after being shot by live ammunition when pro-Morsi protesters broke into the station.

In Upper Egypt’s Minya, protestors stormed the local council office in the city of Malawi, setting the building on fire and looting it. Malawi also witnessed an attack on the local museum. The museum guard was killed and the building was looted.

Earlier in the day, clashes erupted in the coastal city of Alexandria resulting in the destruction of a local Constitution Party office and a McDonalds restaurant. Pro-Morsi marches also halted traffic along the city’s main seafront road.

Further clashes in the city left three people dead. To avoid violence, many shops and restaurants reportedly posted pictures of ousted president Morsi in their windows.

Alexandria had seen bloody violence on Wednesday which left some 25 dead and 287 injured.

In Sinai, armed assailants stormed a checkpoint in the city of Al-Arish, leaving 10 army conscripts dead. A separate attack on the police station in Al-Arish left one policeman dead. In the vicinity of Cairo, a similar attack on a security checkpoint left two policemen dead.

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