Man killed in clashes with cops at protest

CAIRO: An Egyptian man was killed on Saturday night in clashes between protesters and police during a demonstration in a village south of Cairo against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, family and medical sources said.

Small anti-government protests have taken place in recent days in a handful of villages in several areas of the North African country, according to videos shared widely on social media, especially by sympathisers of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Medical sources at Al-Ayat hospital in Giza, outside the capital Cairo, said: “a man’s body bearing birdshot wounds to the face and chest arrived at the hospital overnight Saturday”.

A relative of the deceased, named as Samy Wafqi, said he was fired on “during clashes with the police who were dispersing a demonstration calling for Sisi’s ouster” in a village in Giza.

A security source denied police fired birdshot on protesters, saying only tear gas was used to disperse the rally.

The source added that an investigation was launched into the killing.

Prominent rights lawyers said on Facebook that more than 150 people were arrested in the demonstrations.

Egypt effectively banned protests under a restrictive law in 2013 following the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The country has also since 2017 been under a renewable state of emergency, which rights groups say has allowed the government to crush dissent.

The small protests coincided with mounting anger, particularly in rural and low-income areas, against sweeping government campaigns to stop illegal construction, which have required people to pay fines to legalise ownership of their homes.

In recent weeks, a call also went out from exiled businessman Mohamed Ali, urging people to take to the streets against Mr Sisi and his government.

Mr Ali, a construction contractor and fledgeling actor, had burst onto Egypt’s political scene last year when videos he posted accusing Mr Sisi and the military elite of corruption went viral.

In September last year hundreds protested across country in response to Mr Ali’s calls, drawing a heavy-handed response from security forces.