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CAIRO – Egyptian police fired tear gas at stone-throwing Islamist protesters in two cities on Friday, after authorities vowed to crack down on rallies by the Muslim Brotherhood following its designation as a terrorist group.
Smoke rose from Al-Azhar university’s student dormitory in Cairo as police fired tear gas, while protesters pelted them with rocks from inside the building, AFP correspondents said.
Police also clashed with protesters in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya, an AFP correspondent said, while state media reported that police fired tear gas at other protesters in Cairo.
Police have vowed not to tolerate protests by Brotherhood members, who are demanding the reinstatement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, after the government listed the movement as a terrorist organisation on Wednesday.
The drastic decision to blacklist the Brotherhood came a day after a suicide bombing of a police building killed 15 people, in an attack claimed by a jihadist group but officially blamed on the Brotherhood.
The interior ministry overnight said a man was killed in clashes around Al-Azhar university between Islamist students and civilians who opposed them.
Tensions have soared in the capital since a homemade bomb went off next to a public transport bus on Thursday, wounding five people.
The Brotherhood has denounced its listing as a terrorist organisation and said it would continue to hold peaceful rallies.
It has since Morsi’s overthrow by the military on July held almost daily protests, despite a crackdown that has killed more than 1,000 people in clashes and imprisoned thousands of Islamists.
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