Thirteen people were shot dead as supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police across Egypt, defying an ever-widening state crackdown on the movement that ruled the country until six months ago.
Islamists opposed to the army’s overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi in July have been holding daily demonstrations, even since the army-backed government declared his Brotherhood a terrorist group last week, increasing the penalties for dissent.
The government is using the new classification to detain hundreds of Brotherhood supporters. Thousands more, including top leaders of the group, have been in jail for months, arrested in the aftermath of the army takeover.
The crackdown has reduced but not entirely broken the ability of the Brotherhood to mobilize protests. It has lately been relying on students to sustain momentum against what it refers to as the “putschist regime” governing Egypt.
In the Cairo district of Nasr City, riot police in bulletproof vests fired teargas at protesters throwing fireworks and stones. Similar clashes erupted across the country, as has become commonplace after midday prayers on Friday, which is not a working day in Egypt.
The Health Ministry said five people were killed in different districts in Cairo. A security source said they died from bullet wounds.
The power of the Brotherhood – the country’s oldest and best organised Islamist movement – has been dramatically eroded by the arrests, the freezing of its leaders’ assets and the designation of the group as a terrorist organisation.
A new constitution to be voted on at a referendum on January 14-15 will also ban religiously based political parties and give more power to the military.
The army-backed authorities say the constitution will pave the way for a return to democratic rule by mid-year. It would be a further step toward the complete removal of the Brotherhood from public life after winning every election in Egypt since autocrat Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.
