A 10-year-old boy was shot dead yesterday near clashes between supporters and opponents of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in Egypt’s northern city of Suez, security and medical sources said.

Morsi’s supporters have staged frequent protests across Egypt, many of them after Friday prayers, since the army deposed him on July 3 in response to mass protests against his rule, and arrested most of the top leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood.

Yesterday, around 500 supporters of Morsi gathered in the central Awel-el-soor neighbourhood of Suez and chanted slogans against the army and police. Clashes broke out with opponents of Morsi and rocks were thrown and shots exchanged, witnesses said.

The child, Samir El-Gamal, was hit by a bullet in the back of the head, the sources said, while walking with his mother near the clashes.

His mother was unharmed, but the boy died on the spot, they said.

Members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood accused the security forces of using live rounds to disperse their protest, residents of Suez said. Police said the bullets had come from the opponents of the protesters, not from security forces.

The child’s family accused the Brotherhood of responsibility for their child’s death, the state news agency Mena said.

The interim government installed in July has waged a broad crackdown on the Brotherhood, accusing its leaders of fomenting violence or terrorism, accusations they deny.

The government has promised a return to democratic rule next year, under a new constitution.