Egypt Police Guard Brotherhood after Overnight Clashes

Police were out in force on Saturday outside the headquarters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood a day after more than 160 people were hurt in running street battles between Islamists and opposition protesters. An AFP journalist reported a heavy police presence at the building in the Mokattam neighborhood, and the official MENA news agency cited a health ministry spokesman as saying more than 160 people were injured the night before. Businesses in the area remained closed, and debris from the violence was visible everywhere. "We have already cleared away four burnt buses and three cars," Nasser Abdullah, an official charged with the clean-up, told AFP. Hundreds of Brotherhood members, many of whom had been bussed in the previous day ahead of the opposition protest, were leaving the complex on Saturday. Friday's violence broke out after opposition activists marched to the building guarded by police and Brotherhood members. The two sides pelted each other with stones, emergency services chief Mohammed Soltan told MENA. Shots were also heard, but there were no immediate reports of gunshot casualties. Police used tear gas against the protesters before the clashes spilled over elsewhere in the normally calm Cairo neighborhood.

Source: AFP 23-03-2013 - 12:47 Last updated 23-03-2013 - 12:47

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