CAIRO, Jan 25 (Reuters) – At least 17 people were killed on Sunday in Egypt’s bloodiest protests since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected president, as security forces fired at protesters marking the anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
Gunfire and sirens could be heard in Cairo into the night as armored personnel carriers moved through the center of a city where security forces had once again used lethal force against dissenters. A Health Ministry spokesman said at least 17 people had been killed at protests across the country.
The anniversary was a test of whether Islamists and liberal activists had the resolve to challenge a government that has persistently stamped out dissent since the then-army chief Sisi ousted elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
Gunmen in a car opened fire on a security checkpoint near the pyramids, killing two policemen, and a bomb wounded two policemen outside a Cairo sports club, security sources said.
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In a televised address on Saturday, Sisi praised the desire for change that Egyptians showed four years ago but said it would take patience to achieve all of “the revolution’s goals.”
Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric based in Qatar who supports the Brotherhood, said Mursi was Egypt’s legitimate leader.
Qaradawi’s outspoken support for the Islamist movement has fueled a diplomatic rift between Qatar and its Gulf Arab allies which, like Cairo, consider the group a security threat. (Additional reporting by Malak Ghobrial, Ali Abdelaty and Mahmoud Mourad; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
