100,000 Egyptians protest as ‘Pharaoh’ Morsi digs heels in over power grab - Photos
Police in Cairo used teargas against protesters after clashes erupted on Tahrir Square, leaving one dead. The violence came before a 100,000-strong rally demanding the country’s Islamist president withdraw decrees vastly expanding his power.
Police fired tear gas after hundreds of demonstrators began pelting them with rocks on a street between the US Embassy and the historic square which served as the epicenter of the uprising that toppled authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago. Meanwhile, protesters stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country’s second largest city of Alexandria. The crowd broke into the building hurling papers and furniture from a balcony. Activists reported that a protester in his 20s died in Cairo as a result of being exposed to too much tear gas, making him the fourth person to lose his life in clashes across Egypt over the last five days. Egypt’s ministry of interior reported on Tuesday 348 “troublemakers” had been arrested following street battles between police and protesters. Around 216 policemen were reportedly injured in the clashes. Liberal and secular demonstrators, as well as those loyal to former president Hosni Mubarak, have been staging sit-in protests on the square since Friday to demand President Mohamed Morsi revoke recent decrees granting him sweeping powers. Later in the evening, tends of thousands poured onto Tahrir Square aftering marching from various points throughout the city. Amidst a sea of Egyptian flags, the crowd chanted slogans against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
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