As police tried to calm Cairo’s politically-charged streets, a car bomb exploded near a police camp in the Egyptian city of Suez, security sources said.
The blast, which was followed by a fierce exchange of gunfire, suggested the authorities could be locked in a long-term battle with Islamist insurgents who are gaining momentum.
But the growing violence has not dented the popularity of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (..).
Instead of commemorating Mubarak’s overthrow, tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir to pledge their support for Sisi in an event stage-managed by the state.
An army marching band played, while vendors sold t-shirts with the general’s image for five Egyptian pounds ($0.72).
Huge banners and posters displayed Sisi in his trademark dark sunglasses at Saturday’s rally. Some women kissed posters.
The core demands of the 2011 revolt – freedom and social justice – could only be heard in protests outside Tahrir, which were quickly muzzled by security forces.
The Sisi mania underscored the prevailing desire for a decisive military man Egyptians can count on to stabilize Egypt.
But an end to street violence seemed nowhere in sight. State television quoted a health ministry official as saying 29 people were killed in clashes during protests in Cairo and elsewhere.
Not far from Tahrir, police in black uniforms clutching assault rifles fired tear gas canisters in a clampdown on anti-government protesters lasting for about two hours.
Armored personnel carriers were deployed to try and keep order, and anyone entering Tahrir had to pass through metal detectors.
The pressure prompted one alliance of liberals to call on their members to withdraw from the streets.
But others gathered in central Cairo after nightfall to call for an end to the army-backed government. “Down with military rule,” they chanted.
Sisi toppled Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July after mass protests against what critics called his mismanagement and increasingly arbitrary rule, triggering a confrontation with the veteran Islamist movement that has hit investment hard.
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The army congratulated Egyptians on the anniversary of the 2011 uprising and said it would help people build on the gains of what it calls the June 30 Revolution, a reference to the street unrest that prompted the army to oust Mursi.
Such messages have wide appeal for people like Shadia Mohamed Ahmed, a veiled middle-aged woman holding a poster of Sisi in Tahrir. She said “criminals” who commit violent acts against Egypt should be “executed in a public square.”
The crowd around her called for the execution of Brotherhood members.
Tensions have been smoldering anew since a wave of deadly bombings killed six people in Cairo on Friday. An al Qaeda-inspired group, based in the lawless Sinai Peninsula, claimed responsibility, according to the SITE monitoring organization.
In an audio message posted on militant websites, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Egyptian Muslims to focus on fighting what he called “an Americanized coup” staged by Sisi instead of battling the country’s minority Christians.
The leader of the Coptic Christian church backed Sisi’s military takeover.
Early on Saturday a bomb exploded near a Cairo police academy. No one was hurt, said the Interior Ministry.
TEAR GAS AND BIRDSHOT
Some didn’t have the chance to express their views. Police fired live rounds in the air to disperse about 1,000 anti-government protesters in Cairo’s Mohandiseen district and at two other marches in downtown.
Hisham Sadiq, a university student, said he was protesting against “military rule and the thugs of the Interior Ministry”.
At one rally, the crowd yelled “the people want the downfall of the regime!” – a common chant during the 18-day revolt that ousted Mubarak – before running from tear gas.
Dozens of anti-government protesters were arrested in Egypt’s second city Alexandria, security sources said.
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The security crackdown has been extended to secular-minded liberals, including ones who played a key role in the 2011 uprising. Human rights groups have accused the Egyptian authorities of quashing dissent and using excessive force, calling state violence since Mursi’s ouster unprecedented.
Egypt’s most prominent rights groups criticized the government for using the “purported aim of ‘countering terrorism’ as justification to commit arbitrary arrests and restrict freedoms.”
Although the Brotherhood has been nearly crushed by the state, the group has a history of rebounding.
“Their soft, non-ideological support from Egyptian society has collapsed but their most energized core remains more zealous than ever,” said Michael Hanna of the Century Foundation in New York.
“The Brotherhood and its supporters are not something that can be swept aside easily they have a substantial and resilient core.”
($1 = 6.9619 Egyptian pounds)
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By Sameh Bardisi and Maggie Fick. Additional reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Michael Georgy and Sophie Hares. © Thomson Reuters 2011.