Three dead in violence around Egyptian presidential palace: medic

CAIRO, Dec 06, 2012 (AFP)

Three demonstrators died in clashes between opponents and supporters of Egyptian head of state Mohamed Morsi around the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt’s top rescue official said early Thursday.

Mohamed Soltan told journalists that the three were shot dead, while nearly 350 others were wounded.

It was the worst violence in Egypt since Morsi became the country’s first Islamist president in June. He drew the wrath of the opposition and many in the magistrature by assuming exceptional powers under a November 22 decree. Allies and foes of Morsi lobbed fire bombs and rocks at each other in the plush Heliopolis neighborhood in a Cairo suburb as shots rang out early Thursday.

Many of the opposition had left and a few hundred protesters remained outside the palace. The violence spread beyond the capital, with protesters torching the offices of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood in the Mediterranean port city of Ismailiya and in Suez, witnesses said.