Egypt's revolution anniversary turns bloody as 16 killed

At least 16 people were killed in Egypt as hundreds of protestors loyal to ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi clashed with police in protests on Sunday.

Sunday's protests marked the fourth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that unseated former President Hosni Mubarak.

Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told state-run MENA news agency that 16 people, including a policeman, were killed at protests across the North African country.

The victims fell in the governorates of Alexandria, Beheira, Cairo, Kafr al-Sheikh, Minya and Giza.

At least 38 people and five policemen were also injured during the protests, the spokesman added.

Bloodiest clashes erupted in Cairo's Matariya district, a hotbed for clashes between pro-Morsi protesters and police, leaving ten protesters and one policeman dead.

Police said anti-government protestors used live ammunition, Molotov cocktails and fireworks in the Matariya clashes.

Members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and the liberal April 6 groups have called for mass protests across Egypt to commemorate the anniversary.

Egypt's army and police have taken high security measures and deployed across the country's main squares and government buildings ahead of protests.

Last year, more than 60 people were killed in demonstrations marking the revolution anniversary and in protest of the military's ouster of Morsi.

In downtown Cairo, scores of socialist activists, including members of April 6 group, protested against the killing of political activist Shaimaa el-Sabbagh on Saturday during a march in downtown.

El-Sabbagh was marching with dozens members of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party to lay flowers in Tahrir square, the birthplace of the 2011 revolution.

Egypt marks January 25 as a national day as Mubarak was ousted on that day four years ago. The state was supposed to hold official celebration on Sunday but mourning the death of late Saudi King Abdullah led the country to cancel the event.

Mostly, Egyptians are divided over January 25 uprising, as some refer it as a popular revolt for change and democracy while others consider it a conspiracy to destabilize Egypt.

The 2011 popular uprising toppled Mubarak and brought the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi to office in 2012, but the former Islamist president was ousted by the military in July 2013 after mass protests against his one-year rule.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi's removal as military chief then, made a statement on Saturday and referred to the anniversary of January 25 uprising as "a new torch for hope, progress and action."

Meanwhile, security sources told government-run Ahram newspaper's website that police forces contained most of the protests across Egypt, adding that security forces arrested 130 members of the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group nationwide during Sunday's protests.

The sources said the detainees, some armed with guns, participated in violent clashes against police forces and vandalism acts against government buildings and public property.

Although the police announced it defused a number of terrorist bombs, a number of explosions took place since Sunday morning, causing no casualties.

Egypt has experienced months of terrorist acts and violent protests since the army toppled Morsi in July, 2013.

Violence by Morsi's supporters has claimed the lives of hundreds of security forces members.

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