Five people killed and dozens injured in Egypt

Five people were killed and dozens injured in street fighting on Wednesday north of Cairo between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s president, hours before Mohamed Mursi was to address the nation, according to REUTERS.

With Egypt gripped by fears of a showdown between “Islamists” and their opponents, security sources said 90 people wounded in the city of Mansoura after hundreds of men were involved in rock-throwing street skirmishes. Witnesses also heard gunfire.

There was also fighting in the nearby Nile Delta city of Tanta, though casualties appeared to have been less severe.

Similar outbursts of violence, often prompted by one side or the other staging rallies, have hit towns across the country in recent days. At least two men died last weekend. The opposition plans mass protests this weekend, calling for Mursi to resign.

He shows no sign of doing that and is expected to blame the deadlock that has aggravated an economic crisis on resistance from those loyal to his ousted predecessor Hosni Mubarak.

Fears of a violent stand-off in the streets between Mursi’s supporters and a broad coalition of the disaffected have led people to stock up on food. Long lines of cars outside fuel stations have snarled roads in Cairo and other cities.

M.D