Troops in high alert as Egypt holds vote on new constitution
Print Edition
Military helicopters buzzed overhead and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police were deployed as Egyptians voted yesterday on a new constitution in a referendum that will pave the way for a likely presidential run by the nation’s top general months after he ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
The two-day balloting is a key milestone in a military-backed political roadmap toward new elections for a president and a parliament after the July coup that has left the Arab world’s most populous nation sharply divided between Brotherhood supporters in one camp, and the military, security forces and their supporters in the other.
It is taking place in a climate of fear and paranoia, with authorities, the mostly pro-military media and a significant segment of the population showing little or no tolerance for dissent. Campaigning for a “no” vote risked arrest by the police and Egyptians who have publicized their opposition to the charter, even just parts of it, are quickly labeled as traitors or closest supporters of Morsi.
Some 160,000 soldiers and more than 200,000 policemen fanned out across the nation of some 90 million people to protect polling stations and voters against possible attacks by militants loyal to Morsi. Cars were prevented from parking or driving by polling stations and women were searched by female police officers. Military helicopters hovered over Cairo and other major cities.
Shortly before polls opened, an explosion struck a Cairo courthouse, damaging its facade and shattering windows in nearby buildings but causing no casualties in the densely populated neighborhood of Imbaba, a Brotherhood stronghold.
Four people were killed when gunfire broke out between police and gunmen on rooftops as clashes broke out between pro-Morsi protesters and security forces in the southern city of Sohag. Three others were wounded, including a senior police officer.
A Morsi supporter also was shot to death as he and about 100 others tried to storm a polling station in the province of Bani Suef south of Cairo. It was not clear who was behind the shooting.
In Cairo’s working class district of Nahya, pro-Morsi protesters shot at and pelted with rocks a polling station before closing all entrances with chains, scaring away voters and locking election officials inside.
Security forces later fired tear gas to disperse the protesters and allow voting to resume, police said.
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