One killed, dozens arrested in Egypt at Rabaa anniversary rallies

A demonstrator has been killed in western Cairo and more than 60 arrested as Egyptian security forces on Thursday forcibly dispersed several rallies staged by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Held to mark  to mark the passage of one year since the deadly dispersal of two major pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and Giza, the protests so far have been met with security forces using teargas and buckshot, according to eyewitnesses.

Several protests were also reportedly dispersed in the coastal city of Alexandria, the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya and the central Minya province.

Friday's protests came in response to calls by the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, Morsi's main support bloc, for an "uprising" against the military-backed government on the first anniversary of the murder of hundreds of Morsi supporters by security forces in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square and Giza's Al-Nahda square.

In eastern Cairo's Nasr City district, near the now-iconic Rabaa Square, protesters marched in red-stained shrouds to symbolize the killings and shouted, "The people demand the downfall of the regime."

Some carried posters of Morsi, who is currently in prison pending multiple trials on charges that his supporters say are fabricated.

Protesters also staged demonstrations in several other cities around Egypt, demanding accountability for officials who ordered the bloody dispersals one year ago.

Demonstrators blocked a number of roads in Cairo and in the southern province of Assiut. In Upper Egypt's Minya and Beni Sueif provinces, meanwhile, protesters blocked railway tracks.

The protests come amid stepped-up security by Egyptian security forces on main streets and around vital facilities since the early hours of Thursday in anticipation of pro-Morsi rallies.

Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader who won Egypt's first free presidential election in 2012, was removed from office by the military last year following protests against his single year in power.

Former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, widely considered the chief orchestrator of Morsi's ouster and subsequent imprisonment, was declared the winner of a May presidential poll.