Cairo: Violent clashes erupt on Rabaa massacre anniversary

Egyptian police have have fired tear gas at pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters marking two years since hundreds died in the violent dispersal of the Rabaa and al-Nahda sit-ins.

MENA

2 min read

Alex Wright

14 August, 2015

Protests in Giza on Friday [Nabd al-Nahda]

Violent clashes have broken out between protesters and police, following Friday prayers in Cairo's eastern Haram district on Friday, on the second anniversary of the Rabaaa massacre, local news has reported.

Protesters reportedly shot fireworks at police who responded by firing tear gas to break up the protest march in the Talbeya neighbourhood, according to Youm7.


	A protest march in Alexandria [Nabd al-Nahda]

"Crowds of revolutionaries in Haram are rising up once again on the second anniversary of the Rabaa massacre," said the Muslim Brotherhood's Twitter account.

Police have reportedly arrested one protester who was taking part in the march.

Al-Jazeera Mubashir has also broadcast mobile phone footage of protesters running away from tear gas canisters fired by police in the side streets of Cairo's western Ain Shams district.

Both areas have frequently been the scene of anti-government protests. In January, security forces killed 12 protesters near Ain Shams during the fourth anniversary commemorations of Egypt's 2011 revolution.

Pro-Brotherhood marches also took place across the country in the country’s second biggest city Alexandria and the Delta provinces.

Egyptian security services have ramped up their presence in recent days; police have announced they would use live ammunition against protesters on Friday.

The Muslim Brotherhood has called for Egyptians to join a "roaring revolutionary wave" of peaceful protests to mark the anniversary. The group, which is banned in Egypt, says protests will continue until the end of August.

Security forces forcibly dispersed pro-Brotherhood sit-ins at Cairo's Rabaa and al-Nahda Squares on August 14, 2013.

At least 817 demonstrators died in Rabaa Square alone.

Human Rights Watch has called the massacre "one of the largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history".

Rabaa Square was recently renamed Hisham Barakat Square in honour of the state prosecutor who was assassinated in a June 29 car bombing in Cairo.

Barakat had reportedly given the green light for the security forces to disperse the Rabaa protesters.