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| Africa North |
| Egypt extends curfew in Cairo |
| 2012-05-07 |
| Egypt extended an overnight curfew around the Defence Ministry on Sunday to deter a repeat of FridayÂ’s deadly violence, less than three weeks before a presidential vote. A soldier died and almost 400 people were wounded in FridayÂ’s clashes, the second time in a week that protests over the armyÂ’s handling of EgyptÂ’s troubled transition from army rule to civilian government have turned violent. The military re-imposed the curfew in the Abbasiya district around the Defence Ministry for the third straight day, the state news agency quoted a military source as saying. Many protesters who gathered near the ministry were ultra-orthodox Salafi Muslims furious that a sheikh they backed for president has been disqualified from the race. Liberals and others were also there, accusing the army of seeking to manipulate or delay the vote. The military has dismissed those allegations, insisting it will stick to its timetable of handing over power to a new president by July 1, or even earlier in the unlikely event of an outright winner in the first round of voting this month. |
| Posted by:Steve White |