SANDOUB, Egypt, 2 December 2005 — Riot police fought with voters, firing tear gas and bullets that killed one person, as police barred voters from polling stations in opposition strongholds in the third and final round of Egypt’s legislative elections.
Police fired into a crowd in the Balteem district of Kafr El-Sheikh, killing Gomaa Zeftawi, a fisherman, and wounding 60 other people, said Mohammed Ashqar, a campaign worker for a Nasserite opposition candidate.
Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Ibrahim Hamad confirmed the killing of Zeftawi, the second fatality since the elections began Nov. 9, but he did not give a figure for the wounded. Minutes earlier Hamad had issued a ministry statement saying that polling had “unfolded in a smooth and peaceful manner.”
In one Nile Delta village, men and women were so determined to vote that when police blocked the front of the polling station, they went round to the back and used ladders to climb over the wall.
Security forces beat up at least four judges posted to monitor voting, and others judges were forced to close their stations because of clashes outside, said Hesham Bastawisy, a member of a movement of pro-reform judges.
Lines of police officers cordoned off both polling stations in the Nile Delta village of Sandoub, preventing anybody from casting their vote.
In some towns, such as the Delta city of Zagazig, where a Muslim Brotherhood candidate was favored, voting proceeded normally without violence or intimidation. But in several constituencies, The Associated Press saw that voters had been barred.
In Balteem, supporters of the Nasserite candidate Hamdeen Sabahi began pushing and shoving the riot police who blocked them from the polling station. The police tried to disperse the crowd with sticks and tear gas, but the voters responded by hurling stones, said Nasserite campaign worker Ashqar.
Finally, the police fired into the crowd, killing Zeftawi.
Earlier in the day, the Interior Ministry accused the Brotherhood of inciting violence and attacking judges in polling stations. It said beefed-up security measures were taken to prevent Brotherhood supporters from “terrorizing” voters for other candidates.
