Five die in police, Muslim Brotherhood’s clashes

    
Five people were killed and scores of others were injured across Egypt on Friday as demonstrators supporting the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police, the semi-official Ahram Online news outlet reported.

The demonstrations are just the latest by the Islamist group, which has regularly protested Egypt’s interim government since the Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Morsy was ousted in a coup in July.

The Muslim Brotherhood also has focused its ire on on Egypt’s January 14-15 referendum on a new constitution that would ban religious parties and put more power in the hands of the military.

At least some of those who died Friday were protesters, Ahram Online reported. The outlet didn’t say who caused the deaths.

One protester was killed in Cairo’s Nasr City district, where demonstrators threw rocks and fireworks at police, who responded by firing teargas, according to Ahram Online.

Two protesters were fatally shot in clashes in the northern Egyptian city of Ismailia, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) northeast of the capital, Cairo, Ahram Online reported.

One person was killed in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, and another was killed in Alexandria, the news outlet reported.

In Alexandria — Egypt’s second largest city, 175 kilometers (108 miles) northwest of Cairo — police intervened after Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed with civilian opponents, Ahram Online reported.

The deaths come two days after the country’s Interior Ministry said at least two demonstrators were killed in Wednesday clashes with security forces in Alexandria