Egypt marks second year of revolution

Huge demonstrations were expected in Egypt on Friday on the second anniversary of the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak and brought in an Islamist government, as political tensions simmer and economic woes bite.

Demonstrators were making their way to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where some had already spent the night, after police clashed yesterday with protesters who tried to dismantle a wall of concrete blocks closing a street leading to the square.

Some demonstrators hurled rocks at riot police who responded with tear gas grenades. The interior ministry said five policemen were injured and appealed to demonstrators to avoid confrontation with the security forces.

The secular-leaning opposition has called for mass protests against President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from which he hails, using the same slogan that brought Egypt to its feet in 2011: “Bread, freedom, social justice.”

“Go out into the squares to finally achieve the objectives of the revolution,” opposition leader and former head of the UN’s atomic agency Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.