Cairo clashes death toll continues to rise

Last updated: July 14, 2013 4:44 pm

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Ousted president Mohammed Morsi supporters and anti Morsi protesters hurl stones at each other as they clash near Egypt's landmark Tahrir square on July 5, 2013 in Cairo. (AFP Photo)

By Charlie Miller

A man seriously injured in clashes on Friday 5 July has died of his wounds, according to a statement released by the Tamarod campaign on Saturday. This latest death brings the death toll following clashes on the 6^th October Bridge to four.

Salim Ahmed Madih, 33, died early on Saturday morning after a week in the Intensive Care Unit at Qasr Al-Nil Hospital, the statement continued. Madih was on the 6^th October Bridge on the evening of Friday 5 July, when clashes erupted between Maspero residents, supporters of ousted president Morsi and demonstrators from nearby Tahrir Square.

The statement reported that Madih was hit in the torso by live fire whilst on the bridge, and was taken Qasr Al-Nil Teaching Hospital. Once at the hospital, it was ascertained that he was bleeding heavily from a pierced liver. His funeral had been planned for Saturday, but was delayed pending a forensic report, Mona Salim, a member of the Tamarod Central Committee was quoted by Akhbarek News. A funeral is expected to be held after Duhr prayers on Sunday at the Omar Makram mosque in Tahrir Square, she told the newspaper.

Violence on the 6^th October Bridge began after a group of Morsi supporters attempted to march on Maspero, close to Tahrir Square on the evening of 5 July. They clashed with occupants of Tahrir Square and Maspero locals, and both sides fired fireworks, live ammunition and birdshot. Military intervention came after almost two hours; armoured vehicles from both sides succeeded in diffusing the violence.

Reports gathered later Friday evening revealed that three people had lost their lives and over two hundred had been wounded. Madih’s death now brings the total reported to be killed in the 6^th October clashes to four.

Violence spread further afield to Manial, an island south of Zamalek, where residents fought with a group of Morsi-supporters late into the night claiming the lives of at least five Manial residents and at least two supporters of Morsi.

A total of 24 remain in a critical condition in the Qasr Al-Nil Hospital following the “raid by Muslim Brotherhood militias” on 5 July, the Tamarod statement claimed, adding that exacting retribution on the killers was “mandatory”.