Gunmen target anti-Morsi protesters at Cairo palace demo

Masked gunmen wounded several protesters and members of the security forces on Saturday outside Egypt’s Presidential Palace in Cairo in the latest in a series of shootings in Egypt targeting proteters.

Fifteen people were reportedly wounded in the attack at the palace, AP reported [2], including nine members of the security forces and six protesters.

The attackers also threw molotov cocktails at protesters’ tents. The protesters had staged a sit-in for over a month against President mohammed Morsi’s government, demanding Egypt’s new constitution be shelved.

A vote on the highly controversial new constitution polarized the country [3] passed by 64 percent amid widespread allegations of fraud.

A day after the protest at the palace [4] began on December 4, clashes led to at least 10 deaths when Morsi’s supporters attacked protesters. On December 31, a well-known activist was shot and killed in Tahrir Square.

Morsi's government has been accused of setting up "torture chambres" in the palace to interrogate protesters [5].

Large protests against the new government are expected on January 25, the two-year anniversary of the start of the 2011 uprising that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak.

[6] © 2012 Al Bawaba (Albawaba.com)