One supporter of ousted presidential hopeful Hazem Salah Abu Ismail reportedly died when unidentified men attacked a sit-in near the Defense Ministry in the Cairo neighborhood of Abbasseya, AP cited security sources as saying.
The Health Ministry, meanwhile, denied there were any deaths. It reported that 91 people were injured.
Abu Ismail’s supporters have been staging a sit-in near the Defense Ministry since Friday night to protest his exclusion from the presidential race. The sit-in also included other protesters who demanded a swift handover of power from the military to a civilian authority and lifting the judicial immunity of the Presidential Elections Commission.
The Salafi preacher, disqualified because of evidence that showed his late mother held American nationality, called on people through his Facebook page to join his supporters in Abbasseya.
“I call on the people of the nearby neighborhoods to go immediately to the area to increase numbers so that we don’t get more attacks on the fewer people there. Go quickly. Everyone has to expect anything at any moment,” he wrote.
The people who attacked the sit-in threw Molotov cocktails at the protesters, who threw rocks back at them. Witnesses who attempted to rescue those injured reported the use of buckshot.
The clashes continued for more than five hours at Abbasseya Square and the surrounding streets.
Abu Ismail’s supporters performed the dawn prayers at Nour Mosque and in the streets close to the mosque as some of them waited outside to secure the place.
After the prayers, Gamal Saber, general coordinator for the Abu Ismail presidential campaign, called on the protesters to return to the original place of the sit-in. Abu Ismail’s supporters captured some of the attackers, and sources said the attackers also captured some of Abu Ismail’s supporters.
The clashes led to the injury of dozens of protesters.
Meanwhile, presidential hopeful Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh said he opposes the use of force to break up peaceful protests.
On Twitter, he added, “Protecting peaceful protesters is a duty for the state. Remaining silent about a forcible breakup of a peaceful sit-in is a crime.”
