Dozens dead in Egypt’s Islamist protests

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 24 people died across Egypt on Friday, July 5 as Islamists opposed to the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi took to the streets to vent their fury at what they say was a military coup, Reuters said.

Fierce clashes in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria left 12 dead and 200 injured, while in Cairo, five people were killed as pro- and anti-Mursi protesters ran amok in central areas and armored personnel carriers rumbled among them to restore calm.

Five police officers were gunned down in separate incidents in the North Sinai town of El Arish, and while it was not clear whether the attacks were linked to Morsi's ouster, hardline Islamists there have warned they would fight back.

Tens of thousands of people marched across the country in what Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement called a "Friday of Rage" to demonstrate against his overthrow and the army-backed interim government being set up to prepare for new elections.

A new prime minister could be named as early as Saturday.

Egypt's first freely elected president was toppled on Wednesday, the latest twist in a tumultuous two years since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region in 2011.