BBC's Catharina Moh: "Morsi supporters are being called to demonstrate against the regime and start a new revolution"
Police in Cairo have fired tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters as Egypt marks the anniversary of the 2011 uprising which ended with the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.
Supporters of the military-backed government and the Muslim Brotherhood have taken to the streets.
Tear gas and live rounds were fired amid tight security in the capital.
Tensions were heightened on Friday by bombs in Cairo and clashes across Egypt which left at least 18 people dead.
The government has said extra security measures are in place for Saturday.
Egyptian Interior Minister Muhammad Ibrahim urged Egyptians not to be afraid to go to events marking the anniversary of the uprising.
Supporters of the military and the government are gathering in high-profile locations including Tahrir Square.
But shortly before 06:00 GMT on Saturday, a bomb was thrown at the wall of the police training academy in the Cairo suburb of Ain Shams, reportedly injuring one person.
No-one has said they carried out the attack. Al-Qaeda-inspired militant group - Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Champions of Jerusalem) - has said it was behind a deadly attack on the city's police headquarters on Friday.
Earlier, Mr Ibrahim warned Brotherhood supporters that any attempt to disrupt festivities would be dealt with firmly.
The Brotherhood has held regular protests since the military, led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.
The BBC's Yolande Knell, in Cairo, says that three years on from an uprising that raised hopes of political reform in the Arab world's most populated country, rival demonstrations are showing the deep divisions.
There was tight security as Egyptian security officials visited Tahrir Square on Saturday
The square was the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian uprising
Tensions were raised after Cairo's police headquarters suffered heavy damage in an attack on Friday
One anti-government protest on Saturday was dispersed by tear gas as it formed outside a Cairo mosque, news agency AFP said.
Meanwhile, police fired live rounds in the air to disperse another group of about 1,000 anti-government protesters in central Cairo, Reuters reported.
The Anti-Coup Alliance, led by Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, called in a statement for 18 days of protests beginning on Saturday, mirroring the 18 days of protests that led to Mr Mubarak stepping down in 2011.
The Brotherhood has been declared a "terrorist organisation" and accused by the interim government of being behind a string of violent attacks in recent months, which the Brotherhood denies.
Mr Morsi, Egypt's first ever democratically elected president, was removed after mass protests in July 2013.
Many now expect Gen Sisi to run for president, putting a military strongman back in charge in Egypt, as was the case for the six decades leading up to 2011.
On Friday six people were killed and some 100 others wounded in a series of blasts across Cairo, with the biggest blast outside the city's police headquarters.
That explosion killed four people and wounded at least 76, leaving a huge crater in the street.
The Muslim Brotherhood condemned what it called the "cowardly bombings".
But an angry group gathered outside the police headquarters after the blast, accusing the Brotherhood of being behind Friday's attacks, with some shouting "Death to the Muslim Brotherhood".
A dozen people were also reported killed in clashes between security forces and Brotherhood supporters in Cairo and several other provinces on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment