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At least six people were killed Friday when supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood clashed with police in Cairo and other cities across Egypt, defying an ever-widening state crackdown on the Islamist movement.
Islamist opponents to the army's overthrow in July of former President Mohamed Morsi have been holding daily demonstrations, even after the army-backed government declared his Brotherhood a terrorist group last week and increased the penalties for dissent.
A male protester and a woman were shot dead during clashes between anti-coup demonstrators and police in the coastal city of Alexandria, medical and security sources said. There were conflicting reports as to whether the woman was a protester or an onlooker.
Another demonstrator was shot dead by police in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia after a march set off from a mosque after midday prayers, medical sources said.
In the rural province of Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, a protester died from a bullet wound to the head, local Health Ministry official Medhat Shukri told Reuters.
At least 42 people were injured during the latest protests, Shukri added. Security officials said 122 people were arrested by the time protests had simmered down.
Demonstrators chanted "Down with military rule" and slogans against army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who removed Morsi from the presidency in July.
"We are not afraid, we love Egypt and what we are doing is for Egypt," Mohamed Dahi, a 39-year-old protester, told AFP as he distributed leaflets calling for the boycott of a referendum on a new constitution to be held later this month.
"I am against all injustice and the military rule. I won't accept any military rule in Egypt," said Dahi, who participated in a protest along with his 10-year-old son.
After being designated a terrorist group, the Brotherhood — the country's oldest and best-organized Islamist movement — has been subject to mass arrests of its members and government orders that the assets of its leaders be frozen.
The government is using the new classification to detain hundreds of Brotherhood supporters, in addition to the thousands, including top leaders of the group, who have been in jail since being arrested shortly after the army takeover.
The new constitution, which will be voted on Jan. 14 and 15, also bans religiously based political parties and gives more power to the military. Army-backed authorities say the referendum will pave the way for a return to democratic rule by midyear, although Sissi has said he may run for the presidency himself if it would "satisfy all the people."
The charter would also be a further step toward the complete removal of the Brotherhood from public life after the group's political wing has won every election in Egypt since the embattled autocrat Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.
Authorities have pledged to secure the referendum despite daily street protests and frequent bomb attacks against the security services over the past months. They generally blame the Brotherhood for the unrest, including a suicide bomb attack in November for which a radical Sinai-based group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility.
The Brotherhood condemned that attack, which killed 16 people, and says it is committed to peaceful activism.
About 350 police and soldiers have been killed in bombings and shootings since Morsi was ousted.
A conservative estimate puts the overall death toll since Morsi's fall at well over 1,500. Most of those killed have been Morsi supporters, including hundreds gunned down when the security forces cleared a protest vigil outside a Cairo mosque.
Al Jazeera and wire services
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