Egyptian security forces have fortified their presence around the capital and in neighbouring Giza ahead of renewed demos against the interim authorities. Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood began protest marches on Friday morning in the city of Giza, across the Nile from Cairo. Eyewitnesses told Al-Ahram's Arabic website that protesters in the Faysal district threw Molotov cocktails at an armoured police vehicle, and fired shots at police officers trying to escape from the car. An Islamist grouping, supporting deposed president Mohamed Morsi and led by his Brotherhood group, had called for Friday demos in the run-up to their planned boycott of the upcoming constitutional referendum. Supporters of Morsi reject the new constitution which was amended after Morsi's ouster. Morsi supporters have said they will boycott the poll, slated for January 14-15, which will mark a watershed moment in the transitional roadmap set forth by interim authorities after the removal of Islamist president. Security forces have closed off Cairo's Tahrir Square, as well as Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Nahda Squares, sites of major pro-Morsi protests over the summer. Authorities have also deployed armoured vehicles, barricades and barbed wire in the vicinity of volatile sites and in other major streets and protest venues. Egypt's authorities declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in December, accusing the group of linkswith recent attacks on state institutions and on churches since Morsi's ouster. Ministry of Interior officials have warned that anyone taking part in pro-Brotherhood protests after its designation as a terrorist organisation will be punished with five years in jail, while protest leaders might face the death penalty. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/90706.aspx
