4 Egyptians killed in Port Said clashes
4 Egyptians killed in Port Said clashes: ministry.
CAIRO:
Four people including two policemen were killed in overnight clashes
between security forces and protesters in Egypt's restive canal city of
Port Said, the interior ministry said on Monday.
At least 420
people were also injured in the clashes which began on Sunday after
authorities decided to move prisoners awaiting a verdict over alleged
involvement in a deadly football riot last year.
The two policemen died from gunshots to the head and neck, an interior ministry official said.
A
security official said earlier that protesters threw petrol bombs and
stones at the police station in Port Said, where a general strike
entered its third week. Police responded with tear gas.
The
interior ministry said it decided to move prisoners from Port Said,
starting with the 39 remaining defendants over the February 2012
football violence, because it wanted to avoid unrest.
The court
verdict, expected next Saturday, is for the 39 defendants in a case
which resulted in death sentences in January for 21 other defendants,
sparking clashes that killed at least 40 people.
Residents of Port Said and other canal cities have long complained that Cairo marginalises them.
Last
year's football riot which killed 74 people, mostly supporters of a
visiting Cairo team, exacerbated Port Said's isolation, residents of the
city say.
Overnight clashes also erupted in Cairo between police
and protesters near Tahrir Square. Police fired tear gas to disperse
the crowd as they approached a luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile
which was damaged in clashes last month, a security official said.
Officials say calm has been restored to the area.
AFP
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