Clashes leave scores dead

Violence on the third anniversary of the start of Egypt's 2011 uprising claimed the lives of at least 49 people, overshadowing what the government had hoped would be remembered as a day of national celebration.

In Cairo's Tahrir Square, the heart of the 2011 uprising, thousands chanted in support of General Abdel Fattah el Sisi, who led the military takeover that unseated Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in July. Sisi is widely expected to announce in the coming days that he will run for Egypt's presidency.

He would probably win by a landslide.

But across the capital and the country at least 49 people were killed on Saturday in clashes between government opponents and the security services. Some of the worst violence was in east Cairo, claiming the lives of 46 people in two neighbourhoods, according to the Front for the Defence of Egyptian Protesters, a local rights group.

More than 250 people were injured nationwide and Egypt's Interior Ministry announced that another 1079 people had been arrested.

But yesterday the front pages of Egypt's state media carried few reminders of the unrest that had wracked the city hours earlier.

"People defy terrorism and celebrate in the squares," read the headline of al-Ahram, a flagship state-run newspaper.

The usually bustling streets of Cairo were quiet throughout the morning, a sign that the city has been chastened by five bomb attacks in two days on its security installations. As a clean-up operation continues in Cairo's Islamic Arts Museum, the contents of which were badly damaged in one of the explosions, Unesco pledged $100000 (R1.1-million) for repairs and restoration.

The Anti-Coup Alliance, a Muslim Brotherhood-led coalition of Islamist groups, called for more marches yesterday. The alliance is attempting to take over leadership of the efforts of secular revolutionary groups fighting against both Egypt's military and the Muslim Brotherhood by supporting "any innovative efforts or any escalation of the revolutionary action ... so long as all remain committed to peaceful non-violence and civil resistance".

Yesterday morning, state media reported that militants had attacked a group of soldiers outside Suez, killing four and injuring 13. The attack was less than 24 hours after militants reportedly downed a military helicopter in the north Sinai, killing five soldiers.