Egyptian troops have arrested over a dozen supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi at a protest in the Suez Canal city of Port Said, state news agency MENA reported.
Clashes erupted on Wednesday between Morsi loyalists chanting anti-army slogans and pro-military civilians on the city’s northeastern 23 July Street.
Gunfire was heard, leading soldiers to intervene and arrest fifteen supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was ousted by the army on 3 July following mammoth demonstrations against his rule. His backers have decried the move as a “coup” and a violation of democracy.
Since then Egypt has been gripped by deepening political unrest and near-daily protests, bombings and street violence that has killed hundreds in the worst bloodshed in the country’s modern history.
The turmoil has hammered the economy and tourism in a country that has struggled to restore order since a 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.