Supporters of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood marched through Cairo suburbs on Sunday towards Tahrir Square, where pro-army supporters gathered to celebrate the anniversary of an attack on Israeli forces in 1973.
A supporter of the Islamist group was killed and at least two were wounded when marchers clashed with police in a town 300 km (190 miles) south of Cairo, security and medical sources said.
Egyptian authorities had warned on Saturday that anyone who protested against the army would be regarded as an agent of foreign powers.
The Muslim Brotherhood has demonstrated repeatedly against the army’s overthrow of President Mohamed Morsy in July.
By Sunday afternoon state television showed live footage from Tahrir Square and Alexandria showing crowds carrying photographs of army chief General Abdel Fatah el-Sisi and waving Egyptian flags.
Witnesses said security forces dispersed pro-Brotherhood protests in Alexandria by firing volleys of tear gas.
Islam Tawfik, a Brotherhood member and journalist, said supporters of the group, many of whom have been jailed since the army’s overthrow of Morsy, were determined to reach Tahrir.
“Those of us taking to the streets today want to celebrate the army that used to point its weapons towards the enemy and not towards its people,” he told Reuters.
“We want to enter Tahrir and Rabaa (site of an earlier Muslim Brotherhood protest sit-in) because they are not reserved for those supportive of the coup,” he said.
The Brotherhood accuses the military of staging a coup and sabotaging Egypt’s democracy by removing Morsy, the country’s first freely-elected president.
On August 14, Egypt’s military-backed authorities smashed two pro-Morsy sit-ins in Cairo, with hundreds of deaths, then declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew.
Egyptian authorities have tightened security around the country after clashes killed at least four people on Friday, when Morsy’s supporters mounted their boldest demonstrations since troops crushed their protest camps.
