Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 250 7 - 13 December 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Violence mars round two

Violence broke out on the eve of the first round of elections; left, a driver is injured at the head in Cairo; below, a death casuality in Qalyoubia

Yesterday's violence began with the killing of an NDP supporter in Giza, south of Cairo. By the time polling stations closed at 5pm, the number of fatalities had jumped to 10. In scattered incidents across the country, dozens were injured or arrested. Interior Ministry sources said that all sides were to blame - opposition, independent and NDP supporters. The sources reported the following incidents:

- Unknown assailants opened fire on the supporters of NDP candidate Abdou Khalifa in the Giza district of Badrashin, killing one.

- In the Kafr Al-Sheikh constituency of Dessouq, a fight broke out between the supporters of NDP candidate Abdel-Moneim Zaghloul, on the one hand, and those of another NDP candidate, Mamdouh Darraz, and independent Abdel-Salam Laimouna, on the other. One man was killed, eight injured and seven arrested.

- Supporters of NDP candidate Zuheir Mansour stormed the principal polling station in the Qalyubiya constituency of Shebin Al-Qanatar and were confronted by the supporters of Fathi El-Wakil, an independent NDP-sympathiser. Security forces intervened. One man was killed and nine injured.

- Six men were killed in gun battles between the supporters of NDP candidate Fahmi Omar and independent El-Sayed El-Menoufi in Naga Hammadi in Upper Egypt.

- In the Nile Delta province of Kafr Al-Sheikh a man was killed and 41 wounded in a fight between thugs, armed with chains and sulphuric acid.

- At a village near Shebin Al-Kom, in the Nile Delta province of Menoufiya, about 2,000 supporters of Islamist candidate Saad Youssef gathered outside polling stations. Their intention, sources said, was to storm the stations and rig the vote in Youssef's favour. They were confronted by the police.

- Supporters of Liberal Party candidate Mustafa Bakri, brandishing heavy sticks, attempted to disrupt voting at a Helwan polling station. One of them fired a pistol into the air and was arrested. Eleven others were also apprehended for being in possession of heavy sticks, according to police sources. Two truckloads of Bakri supporters were also arrested for the possession of knives, another supporter was arrested after being found with 20 litres of petrol which, it is reported, he planned to use for Molotov cocktails.

- Interior Minster Hassan El-Alfi referred the case of Col. Hossam Mohamed El-Sherif, an Alexandria police officer and a relative of NDP candidate Hussein El-Sherif, for investigation for allegedly shooting and wounding a supporter of independent candidate Abdel-Salam Nagi Hegazi.

- El-Alfi referred police sergeant Abdel-Hamid Sorour from Port Said to military trial for taking part in the balloting, in violation of a law forbidding police to vote.

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