Deadly clashes mark anniversary

At least four civilians and one police officer were killed in Egypt on Thursday as security forces quashed scattered attempts by protestors to commemorate the first anniversary of a police crackdown that cost the lives of hundreds of demonstrators.

According to local media, police fired tear gas to disperse rallies held by Morsi's supporters in the coastal city of Alexandria, the northern province of Dakahlia
and Minya in the south.

At least 14 people were wounded and around 70 arrested nationwide, security officials and state news agency MENA reported.

After the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi last year, the country's first democratically elected leader, there was a sweeping crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood movement and other Islamist groups.

The deadliest incident of the crackdown occurred on August 14, 2013, when Egyptian security forces moved in on Morsi supporters at protest camps in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, leaving hundreds of people dead.

According to a 188-page-report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released this week, Egyptian forces killed over 800 people - "and more likely at least 1,000" - at two separate pro-Morsi demonstrations in Cairo. The assault was "one of the largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history", the report said.

So far, no one has been held accountable for the killings, but the HRW report said incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was then at the top of the army's chain of command, had been a "principal architect" of the violence.

The report called on the UN Human Rights Council to set up an international commission of inquiry to look into the mass killings. It also called on governments to suspend aid to Cairo until it takes necessary action.

In multiple mass court proceedings,hundreds of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood have been sentenced to death, sparking condemnation from rights organizations and Western governments. On Saturday, Egyptian authorities banned the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

sb/hc (Reuters, AFP, AP)