Reuters AlertNet Lite - Egyptian police scuffle with Kefaya during protest

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Egyptian police scuffle with Kefaya during protest

12 Dec 2006 18:37:48 GMT
Source: Reuters

CAIRO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Egyptian police and members of the opposition Kefaya (Enough) scuffled in Cairo on Tuesday during a demonstration to mark the second anniversary of the founding of the movement.

Riot police cornered some 250 protesters into two separate groups around the steps of the Press Syndicate and the Lawyers Syndicate buildings, two of the few relatively safe places to protest in Cairo.

While trying to shove their way through the police cordon, demonstrators snatched caps and helmets from the heads of the police and tossed them into the air.

After a first brief scuffle, one policeman collapsed and was taken away by an officer. It was unclear whether he was injured.

Protesters made frequent references to protests in Lebanon, where members of the pro-Syrian Hezbollah-led opposition have been camped in central Beirut for almost two weeks in a standoff with the pro-Western government.

Some protesters held up photos of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, calling him "the symbol of Arab resistance".

But analysts said Kefaya's failure to turn out the large numbers seen in 2005 was a sign it was on the wane, and said this was due to government crackdowns, general apathy and less Western pressure on the government to liberalise politically.

The demonstrators were a diverse group, protesting issues from price increases to torture.

They also denounced a planned referendum on constitutional changes which they saw as a veiled attempt to legalise the accession of President Hosni Mubarak's son to the presidency.

"No to the tire, no to the spare," they chanted.

Kefaya came to prominence last year when it opposed a fifth six-year term for Mubarak and any move to pass the presidency to his son.

Mubarak's re-election last year and the decline in U.S. interest in political reform in Egypt appear to have weakened Kefaya, which has not held a major protest all year.

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Last updated:Tue Dec 12 18:40:06 2006