Egyptian protesters clash with police outside presidential palace in Cairo
/Protesters armed with Molotov cocktails clashed with police outside the presidential palace in Egypt’s capital Friday evening, as demonstrations against President Mohamed Morsi carried into a second week in major cities across the country.
Local TV footage showed a chaotic scene, with trees along the palace walls consumed by flames. Later, riot police fired shotgun pellets, tear gas and powerful jets of water from fire hoses in an effort to push back protesters and extinguish the blazes. The presidency said in a statement that it would not hesitate to use force to protect state property.
At least one protester was shot dead, the Health Ministry confirmed, and local media reported dozens of injuries, mostly from tear-gas inhalation.
The crisis gripping Egypt has exposed a growing disconnect between the opposition movement’s political leadership and many of the young protesters in the streets. The latest violence came a day after top opposition figures held a dialogue session with Morsi’s backers in the Muslim Brotherhood and other conservative Islamists, later joining with them to issue a statement condemning violence.
Many of the protesters who began rallying outside the palace earlier in the day expressed skepticism about the dialogue effort, and some openly defied the call for nonviolence as they hurled firebombs at the complex from which Morsi administers the country.
As fires raged Friday night, Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood used Twitter to urge protesters to retreat and pointed fingers at the opposition. “We consider political forces that could have contributed, by instigating, to have full political responsibility, pending the results of an investigation,” Morsi tweeted as night fell.
Earlier Friday, smaller crowds in Cairo and key Suez Canal cities — where the recent violence has been most intense — had appeared to suggest that the crisis was abating, despite opposition calls for more marches. Protesters said blustery weather, fatigue and disagreements in their ranks over their movement’s goals stifled turnout after a week of clashes that left dozens dead and more than 1,000 injured.
For most Egyptians, the first day of the country’s weekend passed at its usual quiet pace.
The sheik of Al-Azhar, Egypt’s highest religious authority, hosted Thursday’s dialogue session, which was attended by leaders of the National Salvation Front (NSF), a loose alliance of liberal and secular opposition figures; the ultraconservative Salafists; and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The joint statement yielded by the meeting denounced the use of violence by all parties.
But it was unclear what, if any, impact the dialogue had on Friday’s demonstrations. Many participants said they were disappointed in the NSF, which has called for a national unity government, and would keep protesting until Morsi was ousted.
The opposition movement has been plagued by divisions over goals and tactics, even as it widened in the past week on the back of a wave of popular anger over police brutality.
