© Photo: «Voice of Russia»
American authorities have advised their citizens not to visit Egypt, and are evacuating the staff of the U.S. embassy in Cairo.
Earlier, it was reported that an American citizen – a stringer, who worked for the U.S. news agency – was killed during the riots in Alexandria. More than 160 people were injured in clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi.
One dead in clashes in Egypt’s Alexandria – state media
One person was killed and more than 70 injured in Egypt’s second city of Alexandria on Friday as clashes raged between supporters and opponents of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, state media reported.
“One citizen died of his injuries from birdshot,” the official MENA news agency said, adding that the 70 injured had been taken to hospital.
Offices of Egyptian Islamist party torched
Two offices of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, were torched on Friday as rival rallies were held across Egypt.
FJP offices were set alight in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and in Aga in the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya, security officials said.
Television footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the building in Alexandria as pro- and anti-Morsi protesters clashed.
The offices in Aga were ransacked and then burned, the officials said.
A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Gehad al-Haddad, in a Twitter message accused remnants of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party of attacking the offices.
Tens of thousands of Islamist protesters gathered in Cairo’s Nasr City neighbourhood to defend Morsi’s legitimacy, while thousands of his opponents took to the streets in several parts of the country.
The unrest comes ahead of mass protests planned against Morsi on Sunday’s first anniversary of his becoming president.
Clashes erupt in Egypt’s Alexandria
Violence broke out on Friday between supporters and opponents of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in Egypt’s second city of Alexandria, leaving at least 10 people injured, a security official said.
“The clashes erupted between the two sides and at least 10 people were injured because of rock throwing,” the official told AFP.
Television footage showed protesters running in several directions in the Sidi Gaber area of Alexandria. Gunshots could be heard.
Police reinforcements have been sent in to disperse the protesters, the official said.
The clashes come as pro- and anti-Morsi protests were staged around the country, two days ahead of planned mass rallies to call for Morsi to step down.
Anti-Morsi protesters flock to Cairo’s Tahrir Square
Thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday with numbers swelling, as supporters of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi held a rival rally on the other side of the capital.
Waving Egyptian flags and chanting “Leave”, the protesters joined hundreds who had camped overnight in Tahrir – the epicentre of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and catapulted Islamist Morsi to the presidency.
Anti-Morsi protests also took place in several parts of Cairo including the neighbourhoods of Shubra, Sayeda Zeinab and Mohandesseen.
Outside the capital, opponents of Morsi took to the streets in second city Alexandria, in the Nile Delta city of Mansura and in the canal city of Port Said.
The protests come ahead of mass anti-Morsi rallies planned for Sunday.
Morsi’s Islamist supporters, who gathered in Cairo’s Nasr City neighbourhood, have vowed to remain on the streets to protect the president’s “legitimacy”, raising fears of violence.
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