CAIRO, June 17 (Reuters) – A dispute between street vendors in Cairo turned into a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday, according to local media reports, with conflicting casualty tolls that could not be immediately confirmed.
The website of the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the army and police had deployed to contain the confrontation in the Cairo district of Sayyeda Aisha on Sunday, the last day of voting in Egypt’s presidential election.
The Al-Ahram report did not give a casualty figure.
But the website of the independent Al-Youm Al-Sabie newspaper said two people had been killed and 15 wounded.
Al-Shorouk, another independent newspaper, said on its website the violence had claimed eight lives. The news reports began to filter out around 2 a.m. and officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sunday is the last of two days of voting in the Egyptian presidential election runoff between the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafik, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister.
Both have promised to restore law and order, which Egyptians complain has been lax since Mubarak’s rule was brought to an end by a mass uprising last year.
(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Read More…
More on Hosni Mubarak
