Morsi supporters, opponents clash in Egypt

Clashes broke out on Friday in Cairo and Egypt's second city Alexandria between opponents and supporters of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, injuring 10 people, the official MENA news agency said. The bloodiest clashes were in Alexandria where nine people were hurt and hospitalised after fighting broke out in the coastal city's Sidi Gaber district near offices of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group, MENA said, quoting health ministry official Khaled al-Khatib. Security forces were rushed to the the area, where they used tear gas to disperse the two sides, the agency said, adding that opponents and supporters of Morsi had pelted each other with stones and Molotov cocktails. In Cairo, one person was injured during a demonstration attended by hundreds outside the High Court, where protesters were demanding the resignation of prosecutor general Talaat Abdallah, who was appointed by Morsi in December. The appointment came a month after the president sacked the prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, in a short-lived decree that granted Morsi sweeping powers and placed his decision beyond judicial review. But in a new affront to Morsi, a court on Wednesday overturned the president's decision to sack Mahmoud and ordered his reinstatement, prompting calls by the opposition for demonstrations on Friday to back that decision. Meanwhile, protesters in the central city of Mahalla set ablaze a car near the offices of the Justice and Freedom party, which is the political arm of the Brotherhood, after failing to storm the building, MENA reported. The Brotherhood has seen more than 30 of its offices attacked across the country in widespread protests against Morsi in recent weeks. Well-organised despite decades of persecution under former strongman Hosni Mubarak and his predecessors, the Brotherhood was the main winner of parliamentary and senatorial elections last year. However, its critics accuse both it and Morsi of mirroring tactics used by Mubarak against the opposition. In the bloodiest violence between Morsi's supporters and his opponents, at least 11 people were killed in clashes outside the presidential palace in December after Morsi adopted the extensive powers, which he later rescinded.