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CAIRO – Pro-democracy demonstrators have been staging daily protests nationwide for the past 99 days against the July 3 ouster of Egypt’s first democratically-elected president
Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi staged fresh rallies following weekly Friday prayers to denounce what they describe as the July 3 military coup against Egypt’s democratically elected leader.
Chanting anti-army slogans, protesters marched in Cairo’s Nasr City district towards Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, the site of a seven-week-long pro-Morsi sit-in violently dispersed by security forces in mid-August.
Pro-Morsi demonstrators also staged a rally in northern Cairo’s Shubra district, amid skirmishes between supporters and opponents of the ousted president.
The coastal city of Alexandria, meanwhile, saw both pro-Morsi and pro-army demonstrations.
Brief clashes were reported in eastern Alexandria’s Al-Asafrah district, although no casualties were reported.
Morsi backers also staged demonstrations in Giza, the southern Minya province and the Nile Delta provinces of Menoufiya and Daqahaliya.
Similar rallies were also seen in the canal cities of Suez, Ismailia and Port Said.
Under the banner “Cairo: capital of the revolution,” Friday’s rallies were called by the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, a coalition of pro-Morsi Islamist groups, to denounce what it describes as the “military coup” against the Islamist president.
The alliance has also called on supporters to stage mass rallies in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday to mark the anniversary of Egypt’s 1973 military victory over Israel.
Pro-democracy demonstrators have been staging daily protests nationwide for the past 99 days against the July 3 ouster of Egypt’s first democratically-elected president.
Morsi was deposed by Egypt’s powerful military establishment three months ago following massive and well-coordinated protests against his presidency.
The unconstitutional change of government is described by the ousted president’s backers as a military coup, while supporters of the move call it a military-backed “popular uprising.”
