4 dead in fresh clashes in Egypt, over 1,000 injured

Four people were killed and another 1, 531 injured in bloody clashes between Egyptian security forces and protesters over a recent football riot, the country's health ministry said Friday. The ministry said that two were killed in a shooting that occurred from Thursday evening until early Friday in Suez in northeastern Egypt. Meanwhile, a 24-year-old soldier and a citizen were killed in clashes between security forces and demonstrators in front of the Interior Ministry building in central Cairo on Friday, according to the official MENA news agency. The soldier was squeezed between a central security vehicle and another car, and died later in hospital. The protestors in downtown Cairo tried to break into the ministry building, chanting slogans against the police officers who allowed the fans to enter Port Said stadium with knives and heavy sticks. The protestors called on people to participate in the demonstration, asked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to hand over its power to a civil authority, and also urged the government led by Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri to resign. On Wednesday, 74 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in a riot between fans of two rival teams at the end of a match in the Port Said Stadium. For its part, a security official asserted 211 officers were injured in the clashes around the Interior Ministry; some injuries were caused by rubber bullets. Ganzouri said that the protestors' attempts to break into the Interior Ministry building is an unjustified act. He added that security forces had adhered to self-restraint and used tear gas to disperse protestors, Ganzouri added. Ganzouri called on the nation's intellectuals, writers and the youth to contain the escalated situation between security forces and protestors in the area of the Interior Ministry and to protect public establishments and state's institutions. But Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie held the SCAF and the Interior Ministry responsible for riots, asking for severe punishment for those involved in the bloody incidents which Egypt has suffered in the last stage of the transitional phase, according to MENA news agency. Badie called on all national and political parties to participate in a conference "towards better future for Egypt" to discuss the future and methods to tackle the current crisis. He said that the post-match riots showed that insecurity in Egypt had reached the unbearable climax, reflecting police negligence. Therefore, the Interior Ministry should be restructured and purified. "We are afraid that the negligence of the police officers might exceed the recent event, to a degree that some of them are punishing the Egyptians for their efforts in the uprising last year, and their demands to regain rights and freedoms," Badie added. "Bids to break into the Interior Ministry building have no relation to protests or peaceful sit-ins, or the peaceful right adopted by law and constitution," said Sameh Sief al-Yazal, strategic expert and head of the al-Gomhoria center for strategic studies. He expressed worries over the continuity of violence due to incitement of some political powers to topple the armed council, and he said that, in the coming period, much surprising details will be revealed after the fact finding committees announce its reports. Meanwhile, the SCAF also blamed in a statement some internal and external parties for the clashes and chaos in Egypt. "Egypt was passing through a very sensitive serious stage in its history," said the statement, which urged all Egyptians to unify and cooperate with authorities for peace and stability in the country. The statement also urged national and political movements to respond immediately to positive initiatives and bear their historical roles to regain stability, noting that peaceful protest is the right for all citizens to express their legitimate demands. In a continuous investigation over the Port Said incident, Egyptian Prosecutor General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud banned Port Said Governor Mohamed Abdel Hashem and Provincial Security Chief Essam Samak -- both fired over the recent football riot, from traveling abroad. Mahmoud and his two aides on Thursday inspected the Port Said Stadium, the scene of the post-match clashes, and ordered TV satellite channels and individuals who shot the match to hand over their video tapes. Meanwhile, the prosecution ordered to prison 52 over the game incidents for 15 days.