Tens of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and members of the National Alliance for Legitimacy took to the streets Friday morning in Alexandria, tearing down the campaign banners of parliamentary hopefuls running in the upcoming elections.The Alliance, which was created following the removal of president Mohamed Mursi by the military in July 2013, called on supporters of Mursi to boycott the elections.
An eyewitness told Aswat Masriya that the marches were seen in several areas east and west of Alexandria.
The Interior Ministry has declared a state of maximum alert in preparation for the elections where more than 180,000 policemen have been deployed to secure the polls.
The armed forces announced on Thursday that it will coordinate with the Interior Ministry deploying 185,000 army personnel for the same purpose.
The eyewitness added that protestors urged the public to “resist the bloody parliament” by writing those words in red on campaign material and raised the four-finger Rabaa al-Adaweya sign, which was coined by the Brotherhood and their supporters following the violent dispersal of the Rabaa al-Adweya sit-in in August 2013, which left over 1,000 dead.
The eyewitness said that quarrels broke out between protestors and supporters of the candidates.
Alexandria is among 14 governorates where elections will be held in the first phase of voting. The elections officially start on Saturday until Sunday for Egyptians abroad. Voters inside Egypt will head to the polls on Sunday and Monday.
Over 27.4 million citizens are eligible to vote in the first phase.
This is the eighth time Egyptians go to the polls since the January 2011 uprising.
