CAIRO: In a freak accident, one demonstrator lost his life when a tree fell on him during the pro-President Mohamed Morsi demonstrations on Saturday. During the demonstration, 11 protesters were taken to a hospital for treatment. The deceased, Shaban Gomaa al-Said, was 47-years-old and came from the Beheira governorate to participate in supporting President Morsi's decrees and the referendum he called for on the now religious-tilted constitutional draft. A referendum has been scheduled for December 15, but judges in the country, currently on strike over the recent presidential decree that gives Morsi near absolute power above judicial review, have said they will not oversee the vote. The protest was taking place in al-Nahda square and around the premise of Cairo University. The deceased's son, Ahmed, 16, told the prosecution that his father had been leaning over an iron fence by the Orman park in Dokki, watching the stage built outside Cairo University. Meanwhile, a group of protesters climbed, according to the son, one of the high trees inside the garden, swaying and chanting, which resulted in the collapse of the tree, which jammed his head between the branches and the sharp edged iron fence causing his death. The prosecution has decided to examine the body to determine if it was an accident or if there was a hidden criminal intent. Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Mahdi, the director of al Masreen hospital announced the injuries ranged between fainting, cramps and minor cuts and bruises. However one person who was having seizures, fell into a coma and is now in intensive care under observation. The demonstrators went out to voice their support over the constitutional draft that all opposing powers said was “flawed” and takes away Egyptian freedoms, notably women's rights and equality.
