CAIRO, February 1 (RIA Novosti) – Ten people were injured in Cairo in clashes with police outside the presidential palace in Cairo, the country’s health ministry said on Friday.
“As a result of the protests outside the president’s residence some 10 people were injured,” the spokesman said. Most injuries were caused by suffocation from tear gas, he said.
Violence began as some 50 protesters started attacking police cordons with stones, threw Molotov cocktails and launched fireworks at the outer wall of the presidential compound. Several trees inside the palace grounds caught fire.
Police used tear gas and water canons to disperse the crowd. They also broke up a camp of opposition members near the presidential residence.
Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Qandil earlier called on police to stop any attempts on government buildings and citizens’ property.
Mass rallies in major Egyptian cities to mark the second anniversary of the 2010 revolution on January 25 turned violent the following day. On January 26, a court handed death sentences to football fans over Egypt’s worst-ever football fan clash and stampede that left at least 72 people dead and another 254 injured last February.
More than 50 people were killed and over 1,000 injured in the unrest that followed.
On Monday, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi had to declare a state of emergency in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, three cities along the Suez Canal. Four more people were killed and more than 400 others were injured after tens of thousands of mourners attended a mass funeral in Port Said on Sunday.
