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Deadly Riots Erupt on Anniversary of Egyptian Revolt Deadly Riots Erupt Across Egypt on Anniversary of Revolution
(about 3 hours later)
CAIRO — Violence erupted across the country on Friday as Egyptians marked the second anniversary of their revolution with an outpouring of rage against the power of the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIRO — Violence erupted across Egypt on Friday as tens of thousands of demonstrators filled Tahrir Square to mark the second anniversary of the country’s revolution with an outpouring of rage against the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood. At least seven protesters and two police officers were killed in clashes in Suez, the state news media said.
At least seven people were killed in the canal city of Suez, state news media reported. More than 250 people were injured as protesters clashed with security forces around government facilities across the country, including the Interior Ministry headquarters, the state television building and the presidential palace in Cairo. And unidentified assailants attacked Muslim Brotherhood offices in several cities, including Cairo, the Delta town of Demanhour, and the canal town of Ismailia, where the group was founded 85 years ago. More than 250 people were injured in similar battles around government buildings across the country, including the Interior Ministry, the presidential palace and the state television building in the capital. The deaths reported in the city of Suez took place near the provincial government headquarters, which protesters set on fire. Muslim Brotherhood offices were ransacked or burned in at least three cities, including Ismailia, the Suez Canal town where the group was founded 85 years ago.
The chaos was the clearest demonstration yet of the chasm of animosity and distrust dividing the Brotherhood and its opponents. In the most striking episode, a, masked men attacked the offices of the Brotherhood’s Web site in Cairo, upending furniture, littering the floor with broken glass and papers and smashing computers. Several witnesses said the assailants came in a large group to the third floor, carrying pellet guns and acid to burn through the padlock, and left with computer hard drives.
Although the Islamists of the Brotherhood have dominated elections since the ouster of the longtime president, Hosni Mubarak, two years ago, another broad segment of the population harbors deep suspicions of the group’s conservative ideology, hierarchical structure and insular ethos. Those doubts were redoubled last month when President Mohamed Morsi, with the Brotherhood’s political party, temporarily overruled the authority of the judiciary in order to ensure that his allies could push through an Islamist-backed constitution to a referendum despite the objection of other parties and the Coptic Christian Church. “They said, ‘We are here to destroy this place,’ ” said Ragab Abdel Hamid, 36, a printer who works for a liberal organization in the same building and tried to contain the attack. “It was planned.” Unknown assailants had blasted the metal doors to the same office with a fire bomb just days before, leaving flame marks, and the gates had been refortified.
It was also the latest confirmation that the Brotherhood had inherited not only Mr. Mubarak’s presidential palace, but also the blame for Egypt’s myriad problems. The violence — from Alexandria in the north to Aswan in the south — dramatized the deepening chasm of animosity and distrust dividing the Brotherhood from its opponents. Although the Islamists of the Brotherhood have dominated elections since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, another broad segment of the population harbors deep suspicions of the group’s conservative ideology, hierarchical structure and insular ethos.
On Friday, five months after Mr. Morsi took power from Egypt’s interim military rulers, the demonstrators’ main complaint was that the Islamists had failed to fulfill the social welfare and social justice demands of the original uprising. A banner in the center of the square called for the repeal of the Islamist-backed Constitution, passed in a referendum last month, which opponents say failed to enshrine ironclad guarantees of individual freedoms. Those doubts were only redoubled last month when President Mohamed Morsi, with the Brotherhood’s political party, temporarily overruled the authority of the judiciary in order to ensure that his Islamist allies could push through an Islamist-backed Constitution to referendum over the objections of other parties and the Coptic Church.
“Egyptians will never let the Muslim Brotherhood rule — over our dead bodies,” said Heba Samir, 36, catching her breath by the Nile after fleeing tear gas outside the state television building.
In scenes reminiscent of the 18-day revolt two years ago, the chaos demonstrated more clearly than ever that Mr. Morsi and his allies have inherited not only the presidential palace but also the blame for Egypt’s myriad problems. Five months after Mr. Morsi took power from Egypt’s interim military rulers, many demonstrators said they had returned to Tahrir Square on Friday because they blamed the Brotherhood for failing to fulfill the demands of 2011: “bread, freedom and social justice,” as the chants went at the time.
But instead of uplifting the society, the revolution has brought two years of turmoil and a near-collapse of the economy. The Constitution that the Brotherhood pushed to a referendum last month deeply divided the country, with opponents complaining it fails to protect individual liberties. In Tahrir Square on Friday, banners demanded the fall of the “Brotherhood Constitution.”
“The Egyptian people had so many dreams and the reality on the ground is, everything is still the same,” said Mohamed Adl, 41, a teacher who carried a sign with a handwritten poem accusing the Brotherhood of making “injustice the guard of our lives.”“The Egyptian people had so many dreams and the reality on the ground is, everything is still the same,” said Mohamed Adl, 41, a teacher who carried a sign with a handwritten poem accusing the Brotherhood of making “injustice the guard of our lives.”
Protesters at times seemed to be re-enacting scenes from the 18-day revolt in 2011 that toppled Mr. Mubarak. The loudest chants were recycled from the revolution — “Leave, leave” and “The people want the fall of the regime.” Others were adapted slightly to focus on the Islamist Brotherhood, calling for an end to “the rule by the supreme guide,” Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader. Leaders of the Brotherhood, hoping to avoid the kind of factional clashes that killed 10 people in December, urged supporters to stay away from the square. The group observed the anniversary by organizing community service projects across the country, such as cleaning streets, painting public buildings, or providing discounted produce in poor neighborhoods. Critics said the efforts would also build good will among voters ahead of the parliamentary elections expected in April.
By early afternoon in Cairo, a few dozen protesters at one corner of the square — many of them apparently teenagers — had begun to throw rocks over a cement barrier at security forces massed around the Interior Ministry building, resuming an intermittent battle that had begun the day before in anticipation of the anniversary. The security officers, as they typically do, threw back some of the rocks, and plumes of tear gas sailed overhead past a church steeple up the street. Brotherhood leaders initially welcomed the protests as proof that the revolution had won the right to freedom of expression. But shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday, Mr. Morsi issued a series of short messages on his official Twitter account expressing his condolences for the victims killed in the “repugnant violence.” He called on Egyptians to express their views peacefully; insisted that the security force “will exert its best effort to protect and secure” protests; and pledged to “chase criminals and bring them to justice.”
State news media reported at around 3 p.m. that four people had been injured in the clashes with security forces near the square, in addition to 25 injured since the battle began the day before. The violence began Thursday in Cairo. In anticipation of the anniversary, protesters began dismantling concrete barriers that had been erected around the Interior Ministry building to contain earlier demonstrations. The security forces began firing tear gas to stop them, and more than two dozen people were injured in intermittent battles that lasted through the night.
Osama Amir, 22, a student walking from the fight, said he did not know how it started or why. “People have lost confidence in the central security forces, so when there is a chance to beat them up, we will beat them up,” he said. By early Friday afternoon in Cairo, protesters at one corner of Tahrir Square — many of them apparently teenagers — had begun scaling the barriers to throw rocks at the security forces massed around the ministry building. And the officers, as they typically do, threw rocks back, and plumes of tear gas rose overhead past a church steeple up the street. As the volleys escalated, a few canisters landed inside a makeshift field hospital in the church, flooding the clinic with choking fumes.
A little while later, another fight broke out when demonstrators passed the office of the Muslim Brotherhood Web site on their way to the square and threw rocks at it. Other civilians — it was unclear whether they were annoyed neighbors or Brotherhood supporters — rushed out to strike back at the protesters, and a street vendor’s kiosk was burned in the melee. Osama Amir, 22, a student leaving that fight, said he did not know how it started or why. “People have lost confidence in the central security forces, so when there is a chance to beat them up, we will beat them up,” he said.
Simultaneously, a group of masked men broke into the building and ransacked the Brotherhood office, overturning furniture, destroying computers and breaking glass. Neighbors of the building said the attack appeared to have been planned because the men had brought acid to break through a padlock. Soon after dark, the battles of rocks, pellet guns, gas bombs and tear gas had spread. Trash fires filled Tahrir Square with black smoke and closed off several bridges and roadways.
The Brotherhood, hoping to avoid the kind of factional clashes that killed 10 people in December, had urged its supporters to stay away from the square and observe the anniversary with community service projects around the country. Many protesters seemed to deny that Mr. Morsi or other Brotherhood candidates could have won elections, or argued that they had forfeited their legitimacy. “The big lie is that the Muslim Brotherhood is the majority,” said May Ramadan, 37, an employee of the American University in Cairo. “They are not, they are fascists, and they are liars.”
Both the Brotherhood and its opponents are looking ahead to parliamentary elections expected to be held in April, and critics of the Brotherhood contended that its community service drive was in part an effort to curry favor with needy voters. The opposition had poured most of its energy into Friday’s demonstrations, and its critics said it was once again wasting its time on street protests while the Islamists had already turned their attention to the more important electoral battle. Mohamed Animer, 40, a communications engineer standing with her at the television building, said, “We need to make more chaos, so the army will step in and take us back to square one.”
“It is important that people go down to the square, if for no other reason than to remind Egypt, and themselves, that something really special happened during those 18 days two years ago,” said H. A. Hellyer, a researcher based here with the Brookings Institution. “That energy, however, can’t stay in the square,” he said. “It’s got to be channeled.”

Mayy El Sheikh contributed from Cairo

But some demonstrators argued that the public protests were a first step toward building a more potent political movement that might someday counterbalance the Islamists. “Nothing tangible will come of today, and I don’t think anything tangible with happen with the elections,” said Ayman Roshdy, 57, a retired marketing consultant. “But there is hope. What is happening today is part of the process of building hope.
“The Islamists have been saying that they are the good guys,” he continued. “Now they are in control and they are being exposed by the minute. And we are building a political movement that will help us to produce a reasonable government.”
By late afternoon, other marches from around the city, some led by well-known leaders of the political opposition, were streaming toward the square and the crowd was expected to swell by nightfall, along with the potential for more violence.