REPORT: One dead, 30 wounded in clash south of Cairo

                                   
One person was killed and more than two dozen injured in fighting on Sunday between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in the Nile city of Beni Suef, south of Cairo, security sources said.   

It was the first death reported on a day when hundreds of thousands of opposition protesters took to the streets demanding that Mursi quit, on the first anniversary of his inauguration. 

Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt's Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi's Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.                         

Waving Egyptian flags and posters of Morsi crossed out in red, crowds packed central Cairo's Tahrir square, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak, thunderous chants of "erhal!", or "leave!" rang out.                           

At the same time, tens of thousands marched from points around Cairo, heading toward Tahrir and toward Morsi's Ittihadiya presidential palace in another part of the city. The crowds, including women, children and elderly people, hoisted long banners in the colors of the Egyptian flag and raised red cards a sign of expulsion in soccer. 

With protesters from a range of social and economic levels in a festive atmosphere, the crowds resembled those from the 18 days of protests against Mubarak a resemblance the protesters sought to reinforce, chanting the slogan from that time: "The people want to topple the regime."                         

Some carried tents, planning to camp in Tahrir or outside the palace. Residents of nearby buildings sprinkled water down on the marchers to cool them in the punishing summer heat and waved flags and blew whistles in support.                         

Near Ittihadiya palace, thousands of Islamists gathered in a show of support for Morsi outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque. Some Morsi backers wore homemade body armor and construction helmets and carried shields and clubs precautions, they said, against possible violence.


AP/REUTERS