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Protests against President Sisi erupts in Egypt

Saturday, 21st September 2019

Thousands of protests broke out on Friday in Cairo and other Egyptian cities calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Videos posted on social media showed demonstrators chanting "rise up, fear not, Sisi must go" and "the people demand the regime's fall" late on Friday.

Dozens of people joined night-time demonstrations.

Officers in civilian uniforms confronted the demonstrators who tried approaching Cairo's Tahrir Square -- the epicentre of the 2011 revolution that toppled the country's long-time autocratic leader.

Such demonstrations are rare after Egypt effectively banned protests under a law passed following the 2013 military ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi.

Under the rule of general-turned-president Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster, authorities have launched a broad crackdown on dissidents, jailing thousands of Islamists as well as secular activists and popular bloggers.

The protests come on the back of Mohamed Ali, a disgruntled exiled Egyptian businessman, demanding the toppling of Sisi.

The construction contractor has been posting viral videos from Spain since the beginning of September accusing Sisi and the military of rampant corruption.

Sisi flatly denied the allegations last week at a youth conference assuring Egyptians he "was honest and faithful" to his people and the military.

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