CAIRO
Both supporters and opponents of former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi staged limited rallies in different parts of Egypt on Friday following al-Sisi's announcement earlier this week – after resigning as defense minister – that he planned to run for president.
Scores of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, for their part, continued their near-daily rallies in Cairo and other provinces.
Pro-Morsi protesters decried a Wednesday announcement by al-Sisi – widely seen as the chief architect of Morsi's ouster last summer – to run for top office in upcoming polls, dates for which have yet to be set.
The National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, Morsi's main support bloc, had called on followers to take to the streets Friday to protest al-Sisi's presidential candidacy announcement.
Eyewitnesses said pro-Morsi students had staged a march outside the Al-Azhar University dormitory in eastern Cairo before police dispersed them with teargas.
A security source said at least eight student protesters had been arrested.
Other protests were reported in several areas of eastern Cairo, in the Nile Delta provinces of Beheira and Sharqiya, and in the Suez, Ismailia and Port Said provinces in the country's northeast.
Meanwhile, in the coastal city of Alexandria, al-Sisi supporters gathered to voice support for the ex-military chief's presidential bid, the announcement of which had been widely anticipated for several months.
A limited number of al-Sisi supporters also staged a brief demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday afternoon.
The Tamarod movement, for its part, which led calls for last summer's demonstrations that led to Morsi's ouster by the army, had called for Friday rallies to "celebrate" al-Sisi's announcement.
Since his removal from office and arrest last July, supporters of Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president – have staged rallies on an almost daily basis to denounce what they describe as the "military coup" against the elected leader.
By Islam Mosaad
englishnews@aa.com.tr
