Five men died in Cairo in separate incidents involving a bomb blast and protester clashes with security forces yesterday, the first anniversary of the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, security sources said.
Thousands of Egyptians opposed to the army’s ouster of Morsi last year joined rare protests in cities and towns around the country, witnesses said.
Previous protests had much lower turnout after a new law required official approval.
Security was tight in Cairo as armoured personnel carriers blocked off the city’s central Tahrir Square to head off any possible protests there.
Since Morsi’s ouster, his Muslim Brotherhood group was labelled a terrorist organisation and thousands of Islamists have been jailed on accusations of terrorism and violence while militant Islamists have stepped up attacks on security forces.
“On July 3, Egyptians will revolt, marking the beginning of the end of the coup, marching from all towns and cities across Egypt to liberty squares in all provinces,” an alliance of Morsi’s supporters said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Three of yesterday’s victims died in clashes that broke out in Cairo between protesters and security forces, security sources said. Unrest was reported both from the upscale district of Mohandiseen and poor areas such as Haram and Materiya.
Earlier in the day, two men were killed in a bomb blast in a flat in Kerdasa, a western district of the capital where around 10 policemen were killed in an Islamist mob attack last summer. Security sources said they believed one of the victims was involved in that police killing.
Another explosive device detonated yesterday in a car in the northeastern district of Abbassiya and three home-made bombs went off near police cars in the central district of Imbaba without causing injuries, the sources added.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blasts. Cairo has been hit by a spate of small explosions in recent days and two police officers were killed on Monday trying to defuse bombs planted near the presidential palace.
Last week, a series of makeshift bombs exploded at Cairo metro stations, the first in the capital since Sisi was sworn in as President. Following Morsi’s overthrow last July, security services launched a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood politicians, activists and street protesters, jailing thousands and killing hundreds in clashes and raids.
Since then, some radical Islamist groups have repeatedly targeted police and soldiers in the capital and elsewhere, mostly by planting makeshift bombs.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has declared a terrorist organisation, denies any link to the violence.
The authorities’ security dragnet has expanded over the past year to include secular and liberal activists, including many who played leading roles in a 2011 popular revolt that ousted veteran leader Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.