Bomb wounds two policemen on anniversary of Egypt uprising

Sunday 25-01-2015 11:38 AM
Bomb wounds two policemen on anniversary of Egypt uprising

Armoured vehicles and barbed wire block an entrance to Tahrir Square during the 4th anniversary of the January 2011 uprising, in Cairo January 25, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

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By Ali Abdelaty

CAIRO (Reuters) - A bomb wounded two policemen in Cairo on Sunday, security sources said, as Egyptian authorities tightened security on the anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The blast targeted policemen stationed outside a sports club in Cairo's Heliopolis area, the security sources said.

Security forces used teargas to quickly disperse a protest in the capital's Ramses Square, officials said.

Tensions have been rising in Egypt. A woman protester was shot dead on Saturday near Cairo's Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the revolt that ended Mubarak's 30 years of rule. Dozens of protesters were killed during last year's anniversary.

State news agency MENA said 22 armoured vehicles were parked around Tahrir Squareand roads to the square were sealed off.

Security forces were also dispatched to Rabaa Square in northeast Cairo, where hundreds of supporters of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi were killed in August 2013, one month after the army toppled him.

Although a security crackdown has virtually ended street demonstrations, several took place this week in Cairo and Egypt's second city, Alexandria.

In a televised address on Saturday, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi praised the desire for change Egyptians showed four years ago but said it would take patience to achieve all of "the revolution's goals".

Sisi announced a roadmap to democracy after toppling Mursi when mass protests against his rule erupted. But human rights groups accuse the former military intelligence chief under Mubarak of restoring authoritarian rule to the most populous Arab state. The government says it is committed to democracy.

Opponents say new laws, including one restricting protests, have rolled back freedoms won in the uprising, when hundreds died as security forces clashed with protesters. Islamists and liberal activists, including many who supported removing Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, have been jailed.

Mubarak-era figures are slowly being cleared of charges and laws curtailing political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old leadership is regaining influence.

An Egyptian court ordered the release of Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal on Thursday pending a retrial in a corruption case. In November, a court dropped charges against Mubarak of conspiring to kill protesters in the uprising.

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