The death toll from Friday clashes between Egyptian police and supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi has risen to ten, all of them Morsi supporters, according to Morsi's main support bloc.
In a statement, the pro-Morsi National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy said at least eight people had been killed "at the hands of the coup's security forces" in southern Cairo's Helwan district.
One of those killed was Hozaifa Nader, the brother of Abdel-Rahman Nader, who was slain during last August's forcible dispersal of a pro-Morsi sit-in in eastern Cairo that left hundreds of Morsi backers dead, the alliance said.
Earlier in the day, an alliance source said that Egyptian security forces had attacked a pro-Morsi march on the outskirts of Helwan with live ammunition, birdshot and teargas.
A security official, meanwhile, denied that security forces had killed any protesters on Friday, saying instead that three policemen had been injured in clashes with demonstrators.
Earlier Friday, a source with the pro-Morsi alliance in Alexandria said that two pro-democracy demonstrators had been killed when security forces dispersed their rally in the west of the coastal city.
Mohamed Abdullah, 18, was fatally struck with birdshot, while Hossam Magdi, 17, was killed after being shot in the stomach during clashes with security forces, the source said.
More than 11 other protesters were injured, according to the source.
The Interior Ministry, for its part, said the two young men had been killed in clashes between members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group and local residents.
Friday's was the highest death toll from clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces within the past several weeks, as the ousted president's backers continue to defy a sustained crackdown by Egypt's military-backed government.
Protesters staged fresh rallies on Friday as part of a "third revolutionary wave" called by the pro-Morsi alliance, which has also called on supporters to boycott Egypt's May 26-27 presidential polls.
Egypt has been dogged by instability since the army forcibly removed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, from office last July on the back of opposition demonstrations.
Pro-democracy protesters have staged almost daily rallies ever since to demand his reinstatement.
By Yousri Mustafa
englishnews@aa.com.tr
