Egyptian protesters clash with police outside Brotherhood’s HQ

Hundreds of Egyptian protesters clashed with riot police on Sunday, outside the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo.

Security forces attempted to disperse protesters and more of them showed up to protect the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters. The police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, Al Arabiya reported.

Anger at President Mohammed Mursi was on display again when protesters took their demands to the Brotherhood’s doorstep.

On Saturday night, clashes between Muslim Brotherhood members and oppositional protesters escalated in a southeastern Cairo suburb, with reports of “sticks and iron chains” being used during the attacks.

The crowd was responding to an assault on journalists, who claimed they were attacked by Brotherhood members Saturday evening during coverage of a meeting.

The journalists said that after a group of activists sprayed anti-Brotherhood graffiti on the ground outside the group’s Cairo headquarters, the Brotherhood guards attacked with sticks and chains.

Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said in a statement that guards outside the building were provoked and insulted by the activists and journalists.

Many of the group’s offices were attacked across the country in December during violent protests over the drafting of the constitution.

Dozens of journalists rallied outside their syndicate in the capital Cairo against the incident.

Diaa Rashwan, the newly elected head of the syndicate who replaced a figure considered by most journalists as pro-Brotherhood, said he would file a lawsuit against the Brotherhood spokesman for suggesting that journalists had incited the violence.

The opposition party Al-Dustor, led by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, blamed the Brotherhood’s leadership for allegedly encouraging “militias” loyal to the group to join the fight.

There were clashes on Saturday during protests against Mursi and the Brotherhood during the president’s trip to the impoverished governorate of Sohag. The presidency on Sunday denied that opposition protesters had tried to storm the hall where Mursi had been speaking, despite video that showed the attempt.