Large, rival rallies in Egypt after judge orders deposed president jailed
Egyptian soldiers stand guard atop an armored vehicle on a bridge leading to Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, July 26. The military ousted Mohamed Morsy, Egypt's first democratically elected president, in early July after days of mass demonstrations.
Massive, rival rallies in and around Cairo ran into the wee hours of Saturday, with one group celebrating the ouster and jailing of once Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy and others angrily demanding the democratically elected leader's return.
These demonstrations around the capital -- and in fact all around the tumultuous nation -- showed the raw emotion and deep divisions tied to Morsy, political battles that have rocked a country already dealing with major economic and other challenges.
The mass events occasionally have turned violent in recent weeks, either with clashes between competing factions or between protesters and security forces.
It happened Friday as well, when five people were killed and 72 injured in the port city of Alexandria, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported, citing security sources.
Scores of seemingly injured protesters also rushed late Friday around Nasr City, an area not far from central Cairo where Morsy backers were staging a large rally, according to a CNN crew at the scene.
As the effects of tear gas wafted through the air, witnesses reported that some had been hurt in clashes with security forces around the 6th of October bridge over the Nile River.
A very different scene played out not far across that bridge in Tahrir Square, which was the hub of the popular movement that led to the military's ouster of another president -- Hosni Mubark, who'd ruled Egypt for nearly three decades -- in early 2011.
There, again and again, fireworks lit up the nighttime sky. Those gathered below, opposed to Morsy, cheered military helicopters that flew by, sometimes dropping leaflets and Egyptian flags.
Morsy, and how he'd steered Egypt's government, was foremost on the minds of people on both sides of the fight.
The former Muslim Brotherhood leader became Egypt's first democratically president in June 2012, but found himself at odds with the opposition before the military removed him from power, and held him, early this month.
On Friday, Morsy found himself under fire again -- not for actions he took as president, but before then.
Because of these allegations, a judge ordered the former president jailed for 15 days, according to state media.
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