CAIRO – Clashes Friday in several Egyptian cities during protests demanding change have left 110 people injured, an official with the central emergency services said. Rallies against President Mohamed Morsi were staged across the country, including outside the presidential palace in Cairo where police fired tear gas to disperse protesters. Street battles also broke out in Ismaila, where the Muslim Brotherhood's political party offices were torched. Thousands of opponents of Morsi and his Brotherhood allies massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square – the cradle of the uprising against Mubarak – to revive the demands of a revolution they say has been betrayed by Islamists. Before dawn Friday, police battled protesters who threw petrol bombs and firecrackers as they tried to approach a wall blocking access to government buildings near Tahrir Square. Clashes between stone-throwing youths and the police continued in streets around the square into the day. Ambulances ferried away a steady stream of casualties. “Our revolution is continuing. We reject the domination of any party over this state. We say no to the Brotherhood state,” Hamdeen Sabahy, a popular leftist leader, said. There were similar scenes in Suez and Alexandria, where protesters and riot police skirmished near local government offices. Tear gas fouled the air and black smoke billowed from tires set ablaze by youths. The anniversary brought thousands of Morsi's opponents into the streets of other cities, including Port Said at the northern mouth of the Suez Canal and Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra in the Nile Delta. In Tahrir Square, protesters echoed the chants of 2011's historic 18-day uprising. “The people want to bring down the regime,” they chanted. “Leave! Leave! Leave!” chanted others as they marched toward the square. “We are not here to celebrate but to force those in power to submit to the will of the people. Egypt now must never be like Egypt during Mubarak's rule,” said an activist. – Agencies
