Ammon News - By AL ARABIYA / AGENCIES
A young Islamist on Sunday became the first casualty since Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi’s constitutional declaration last week.
Islam Fathi Mohammed, reported to be 15, died after clashes with protesters outside a local Muslim Brotherhood office in the Nile Delta.
“Islam Fathi Mohammed was killed” in clashes outside the Brotherhood headquarters in the town of Damanhour, one of the movement’s leaders Jamal Hichmat said, according to AFP news agency.
Witnesses said clashes had broken out in Damanhour between supporters and opponents of President Mursi, during protests there against the sweeping new powers he has assumed, with petrol bombs, sticks and stones being used.
The president’s constitutional declaration on Thursday allows him to issue decisions and laws unchallenged. The president said in a statement on Sunday evening that the new power were only “temporary,” and “not meant to concentrate power, but... to devolve it to a democratically elected parliament.
But this has not yet been enough to calm protests, which were sparked over fears by the opposition that he was taking on dictatorial powers.
Several offices belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party have been torched since Thursday announcement.
In Damanhour, Mahmoud Dafraoui, a doctor at a local hospital in Damanhour, confirmed to AFP that an Islamist was killed in the clashes and 10 people wounded.
But the brotherhood puts the figure higher.
“60 were injured after thugs attacked the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Damanhour in the total absence of police forces,” the party’s website said.
The witnesses said clashes have been going on for the past three days between the Islamists and Mursi’s opponents, who have tried to storm the Brotherhood office in the Nile Delta town.
Hundreds of Mursi supporters demonstrated late on Sunday in front of mosques in Cairo and across the country in protests called for by the Muslim Brotherhood, from which the president hails, witnesses said.
The moderate Islamist movement has also called for a “million man” march on Tuesday, to coincide with a huge demonstration organized by Mursi opponents.