CAIRO, (ST)_ At least 110 Egyptian civilians were reported injured as hundreds of Egyptians, Islamists supporters and secular opponents of the Egyptian President Mahmoud Mursi clashed in Cairo ‘s city center , al-Tahriri Square, according to Egyptian news agencies .
The clashes are considered as the worst violence since President Mohammed Mursi took power at the end of June, this year.
Tensions are high after Egyptian judges criticized Mursi’s attempt to remove the country’s top Prosecutor-General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud , viewed as a figure from the era of the toppled President Hosni Mubarak , and nominated him as a Vatican envoy. But Prosecutor Mahmoud refused to abide by ” Mursi ” nomination to go there.
Moreover, a group of Egyptian judges stood against President Mursi’s attempt to remove the country’s top prosecutor and described it as a “farce”.
The move against Mr. Mahmoud followed an angry public response to the acquittal of the 24 people who had been accused of sending men on camels and horses to break up a protest in Cairo in 2011, leaving several people dead.
It follows the release of 24 people accused of attacks on protesters during last year’s uprising.
The accused persons included Fathi Sorour and Safwat al-Sherif, former speakers of Egypt’s two houses of parliament.
Prosecutors said Mr Sherif, who was also the secretary general of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NPD), had “contacted MPs, members of the NDP and financiers of the party, inciting them to disperse the protests in Tahrir Square by force and violence”.
The case is the latest flashpoint between Mursi’s government and figures associated with the Mubarak era.
In unrest elsewhere, protesters in Egypt’s northern industrial town of Mahalla stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and tore down pictures of President Mursi, Egyptian security officials told reporters
News reports in Cairo said that 100 days into Mursi ‘s term, this is the first time the Egyptian President has experienced big demonstrations.
It is evident that the Egyptians are frustrated because so far the new president appears to have done little to change the country or foster the economy, the news reports said, adding that Egyptian opposition are upset at the fact that the new proposed constitution as ” too dominated by Islam”.
Another challenge the president had to face in the past 100 days was the increase in strikes staged by employees in different sectors.
Since early July, transport workers, doctors and teachers have all staged industrial actions demanding better pay and working conditions.
The government was constantly blames for failing to handle the strikes and its general handling of Egypt’s ailing economy.
A heated debate is being negotiated about a US $4.8bn (£3bn) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) .
“Instead of forging economic policies in interest of the poor by setting a minimum and maximum wage, forcing progressive taxation and renationalising the country’s robbed companies, [ Mursi] chose to side with the rich and follow the same path as the old ruling party in depending on loans,” Ahmed Imam, a member of the National Front of the Protection of the Revolution, told Al Ahram newspaper.
In his speech marking the 6 October war, Egypt’s President gave himself and his government high grades in dealing with Egypt ‘s pressing problems. But the speech was criticized and at times ridiculed on social media, especially Twitter.
“In Mursi’s first 100 days of rule: At least 250 strike organisers have been sacked,” one Egyptian opponent to ” Mursi” tweeted.
Other pending issues ” Mursi” faces include freedom of speech, women’s participation in politics and the future of Egypt’s Copts who feel increasingly threatened by the rising power of Islamists in the country.
It has become evident that most of the Egyptian reached the conclusion that Mursi is just the president of the [Muslim] Brotherhood, and that they do not want to replace the old regime with one like the old one.
There is an eye on President Mursi to that he has to keep his promise about being a President for all Egyptians, rather than all his Islamic supporters
Tomader Fateh