Baku-APA. At least four people died in clashes on Friday as supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi mounted their boldest marches since troops crushed their protest camps demanding his reinstatement on August 14, APA reports quoting Reuters.
An Egyptian army vehicle fired live rounds in the direction of Brotherhood supporters who had been pushed back by security forces when they tried to enter Cairo's Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of Egypt's 2011 uprising.
Four people were killed in clashes in two neighborhoods of Cairo, an interior minister spokesman said in comments published by state-run newspaper Al-Ahram late on Friday. All four were Brotherhood supporters, security sources said.
Major General Sayed Shafiq, assistant interior minister for public security, denied any protesters had died in the southern city of Assiut. Medical and health sources had earlier said four people had been killed in Assiut, without saying which side they were on.
In Cairo, onlookers threw rocks at pro-Mursi protesters, who hurled them back. Riot police earlier fired tear gas to push back the march.
Thousands of protesters headed toward the site in northeast Cairo of one of the former Brotherhood protest camps crushed by security forces in August. By late afternoon, protesters had retreated from the area.
Members of the Brotherhood, which has been banned by court order, tried to reach the presidential palace but were turned back by police.
The state news agency said protesters failed in attempts to reach the defense ministry and a Republican Guard facility.
Fighting also erupted in Egypt's second city Alexandria and two Nile Delta cities.
The Brotherhood won every election after a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but became deeply unpopular under Mursi's rule.
Mursi was accused of trying to give himself sweeping powers and entrenching the Brotherhood - allegations he denies.
Egypt has been gripped by political and economic turmoil since army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Mursi, the country's first freely elected president, on July 3 after mass protests against his rule.
On August 14, Egypt's military-backed authorities smashed the two pro-Mursi sit-ins in Cairo, with hundreds of deaths, and then declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew.
Many of the Brotherhood's top leaders have been arrested since.
"They (the government) want a country without religion," said protester Rasha al-Malky.
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