- SUEZ, Egypt: Egyptians carried the body of a protester through Suez on Friday after clashes with police who withdrew from central areas of the eastern city leaving some main streets to demonstrators, a Reuters witness said.
“They have killed my brother,” shouted one of the demonstrators.
Protesters named him as Hamada Labib, 30, a driver. They blamed his death on a gunshot.
Egyptian police abandoned central areas of the industrial port city after demonstrations in which thousands of protesters overwhelmed security lines and torched a police station, a Reuters witness said.
Police had tried to disperse the protesters, who hurled stones and chanted for the end to President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. But they were unable to contain them and moved back, abandoning at least eight big police trucks. Protesters smashed the windows and tried to flip one of the trucks over.
Hundreds of members of security forces had gathered in a large group around the governors offense, where there was no sign of protesters.