Egypt's National Defense Council, headed by President Mohamed Mursi, condemned street violence on Saturday and called for a broad national dialogue to resolve political differences, the information minister said after the council met.
Information Minister Salah Abdel Maqsoud, who attended the meeting with Mursi and other ministers including the defence minister who is a general in charge of the army, said in a televised address the council could consider declaring a state of emergency or a curfew in areas of violence if needed.
At least 39 people were killed on Saturday in violence that erupted in Port Said, northeast of Egypt's capital, after protesters took to the street angry that people from their city had be blamed for a soccer disaster, state television said.
More than 200 people were also injured, state television reported, citing the Health Ministry.
An Egyptian court sentenced to death on Saturday 21 people accused of
involvement in the Port Said soccer stadium disaster in which 74 people were
killed last year, the judge said.
The judge read out a list of 21 names who had been "referred to the
Mufti", a phrase used to denote a death verdict as all such sentences must
reviewed by the Egypt's top religious authority.
The court was ruling in the case of 73 people charged with involvement in the
Feb. 1, 2012 disaster. The verdicts for others in the case will be announced in
March 9, 2013.
Live images were shown from inside the court shortly before the session began.
Some of those attending chanted for justice and held up pictures of those
killed.
In this context, Egyptian security officials said that at least eight people, including two policemen, have died in violence that erupted on Saturday in Port Said when relatives
tried to break into the Port Said prison to free the 73 defendants in the case
held there.
At least 75 people were wounded in Saturday's violence outside the prison. Port
Said residents also cut off the main road leading to the city.
Eight people including a policeman were shot dead in Suez, east of the capital,
and another was shot and killed in Ismailia, another city on the Suez Canal,
medics said, after a day when police fired tear gas at stone-throwing youths.
Another 456 people were injured across Egypt, officials said, in Friday's
unrest fueled by anger at Mursi and his Islamist allies over what the
protesters see as their betrayal of the revolution that erupted on Jan. 25,
2011.
The protests and violence have laid bare the divide between the Islamists and
their secular rivals. The schism is hindering the efforts of Morsi, elected in
June, to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency
by enticing back investors and tourists.
Protesters accuse Morsi and his Islamist allies of hijacking Egypt's revolution
that ended 30 years of Mubarak's autocratic rule. Morsi's supporters say their
critics are ignoring democratic principles after elections swept Islamists to
office.
This as troops were deployed in Suez after the head of the state security
police in the city asked for reinforcements. The army distributed pamphlets to
residents assuring them the deployment was temporary and meant to secure the
city.
"We have asked the armed forces to send reinforcements on the ground until
we pass this difficult period," Adel Refaat, head of state security in
Suez, told state television.
Street battles erupted in cities including Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port
Said. Arsonists attacked at least two state-owned buildings. An office used by
the Muslim Brotherhood's political party was also torched.
The Brotherhood decided against mobilizing for the anniversary, wary of the
scope for more conflict after December's violence, stoked by Morsi's decision
to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution rejected by his opponents.
On another note, the opposition’s Egyptian National Rescue Front announced
that it will boycott the upcoming Parliamentary elections if the president does
not heed its demands.
REUTERS/LBCI/AP