5 Dead in Egypt Over President Morsi's Bid to Sieze Absolute Power

AFRIK UPDATE

   
  Tension has been building ever since the president assumed near total powers over Egypt on November 22.

 Five people have been killed and almost 500 injured during violent clashes in Egypt last night as the crisis threatens to boil over once again.

 Supporters and opponents of the country's Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi fought in the streets of Cairo with firebombs, rocks and sticks.

It is the first time rival groups have fought openly in the streets after thousands of Mr Morsi's Islamist supporters descended on an area near the presidential palace where 300 opponents were staging a sit-in.

                                      

The fighting erupted late yesterday when members of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood chased the protesters away from their base outside the palace's main gate and tore down their tents.

After a brief lull, hundreds of opponents arrived and began throwing firebombs at the president's backers, who responded with rocks. 

The crowds swelled and the clashes continued well after nightfall, spreading from the immediate vicinity of the palace to residential streets nearby.

Hundreds of riot police could not stop the fighting as officers fired tear gas in a bid to disperse Mr Morsi's opponents.

State television quoted the health ministry as saying five people were killed and 446 were injured as mobs battled outside the presidential complex in the Heliopolis district of the capital.

                                      

Volunteers ferried the wounded on motorcycles to waiting ambulances, which rushed them to hospitals.

By dawn, the violence had calmed, but both sides appeared to be digging in for a long struggle, with the opposition vowing more protests later today and rejecting any dialogue unless the charter is rescinded.

There were rival demonstrations outside the Brotherhood's headquarters in the Cairo suburb of Moqatam, and in Alexandria security officials said senior Brotherhood official Sobhi Saleh was taken to hospital after being severely beaten by Morsi opponents.

Compounding Morsi's woes, four of his advisers resigned yesterday, joining two other members of his 17-member advisory panel who have abandoned him since the crisis began.