Early-morning protests on Egypt's 'Friday of rage'

Egyptians awoke on Friday to early-morning protests in the aftermath of a day of chaos on the one-year anniversary of the 3 July coup that toppled former president Mohamed Morsi.

Protestors waving banners bearing Morsi’s image took to the streets of Cairo and cities in Assuit and Minya provinces, chanting slogans against the current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

In Morsi's hometown in the Nile Delta's Sharqiya province, protesters called for reinstating Morsi to power, amid chants against the military and police.

Unrest across Egypt on Thursday

Two sound bombs exploded late on Thursday at a train station in the port city of Alexandria, with five people injured in the ensuing stampede.

“The injuries ranged from loss of consciousness to light wounds”, according to a Health Ministry source quoted in pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi.

However, in a statement from the railway authority issued on Friday morning, the number of injured rose to nine including a child in a “critical condition”.

Just south of the capital Cairo, an attack on a police building in Ain Helwan killed a soldier and injured two officers.

Protestors threw Molotov cocktails at the building, setting it alight.

Police forces eventually dispersed the crowd and arrested 54 “operatives from the Muslim Brotherhood”, according to a statement released by Egypt’s Ministry of Interior.

Police used tear gas to disperse night-time demonstrations in cities across the country, while protestors retaliated by throwing stones and fireworks.

‘Friday of rage’

After Thursday’s violence, protesters are being urged to march on what has been declared a second “Friday of rage.”

The National Alliance Supporting Legitimacy, a coalition of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and salafi political parties backing ousted president Morsi, posted a statement on their Facebook page on Friday morning denouncing “bloody oppression and fabricated explosions.”

“The uprising of 3 July was just a beginning, and will not end until matters are settled.”

“Despite the intensity of the heat and the Ramadan fast, revolutionaries made significant progress for the movement” on Thursday.

Calling for widespread unrest, the group announced that “we must all listen to the voice of the people, and take to the streets according to our own free will.”

In expectation of large-scale demonstrations on Friday, security has been beefed up in the capital.

Groups of security personnel have been stationed in Mustafa Mahmoud Square, one of the central plazas of Giza just south-west of Cairo.

Sisi reacts

Sisi has as yet given no official statement, either on the anniversary of the coup that ousted his predecessor or on the violence that marred it.

However, he did release a raft of new measures on Thursday.

The decision includes a bill imposing a maximum limit on salaries for government employees and one aimed at eradicating market monopolies.

Among the six bills was also an amendment stipulating extra punishments against anyone found digging tunnels on Egypt’s borders.