Update: Two casualties in Friday protests

Muslim Brotherhood supporters renewed their habitual protests on Friday, and were met with tear gas and violent retaliation from area residents, witnesses reported.

At least two people died in today’s clashes, reported the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA). One of the victims was a 10-year-old child who was reportedly caught in the crossfire during clashes between Brotherhood supporters and local residents. The other victim was a Brotherhood protester.

In Heliopolis, about 1,000 protesters marched through different streets with pro-Muslim Brotherhood signs early in the day. Mada Masr reporters in the area said military forces started blocking main roads in the district late Friday afternoon, particularly avenues leading to the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace, to prevent demonstrators from heading there.

Early Friday evening, a tram in Heliopolis was set on fire. Several media sources reported that Brotherhood protesters were responsible for the fire as they fought with residents in the district’s Nozha area.

In Haram, police fired tear gas to disperse a Muslim Brotherhood protest after demonstrators tried to block a main street, the privately-owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY) reported, citing Saeed Teama, the head of the Giza Traffic Authority. Security sources told AMAY that no arrests were made.

The Muslim Brotherhood-operated Freedom and Justice portal also reported that police fired tear gas in the Nasr City area, in addition to blocking main streets, including Nasr Road, to stop the marches. The state-run Middle East News Agency reported several protesters in the march were arrested on charges of arms possession.

Maadi residents allegedly clashed with Brotherhood protesters when they tried to march through the neighborhood, AMAY reported. Similar clashes erupted in the residential area near Al-Azhar University, according to the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram, as Brotherhood-affiliated Azhar students skirmished with Nasr City residents.

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood have tried to sustain weekly demonstrations on Fridays since August’s deadly dispersal of the sit-ins staged at Rabea al-Adaweya Square and Nahda Square to protest the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi. 

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