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Cairo • Egyptian riot police fired volleys of tear gas and locked down Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday as clashes broke out in a rare push by Islamist supporters of the ousted president to take control of the iconic square, leaving at least four dead.
With lines of armored vehicles and barbed wire, troops sealed off the square and diverted traffic after the Muslim Brotherhood called on supporters to march there.
Thousands of supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi followed suit from different parts in the city, chanting "Down with the murderer" and "El-Sissi is the enemy of God," referring to Defense Minister Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, who forced Morsi from power July 3 after millions took to the streets demanding the Muslim Brotherhood leader resign.
The Brotherhood called Tahrir Square "the capital of the revolution." It is the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that forced longtime president Hosni Mubarak from power and led to Morsi's short-lived tenure. Since Morsi's ouster, nearly 2,000 Brotherhood members have been arrested and hundreds of Morsi supporters have been killed. Morsi has been detained incommunicado.
The Associated Press