In renewed protests against President Muhammad Morsi on the second anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, reports indicate five and nine people were killed in Suez while around 280 civilians and 55 security forces were injured around the country.
In Cairo, thousands of protesters gathered to show opposition to Morsi and to “revive the demands of a revolution they say has been hijacked by the Islamists.” In addition to social or political concerns, the poor state of the Egyptian economy, also a factor in the 2011 uprising, has contributed to these recent protests. Despite the symbolic significance of the day, the Muslim Brotherhood chose not to call for its own demonstrations, fearing further violence following December confrontations that were fueled by Morsi’s fast-tracking of a controversial, “Islamist-tinged” constitution.
Demonstrators threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at security barricades at varying locations across the country, while police forces generally responded with tear gas and gunfire. There were break-ins of local government offices in Ismailia and Kafr el-Sheikh. The local offices of the Muslim Brotherhood were pillaged and burned in Ismailia and two other cities. A group of protesters raided the Muslim Brotherhood’s website operations offices in Cairo, destroying and stealing computer equipment and furnishings.