Clashes ahead of second round vote

Egyptian riot police try to quell clashes between opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Morsi in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria yesterday. Photo: AFP

Riot police fired tear gas to separate clashing protesters in Egypt's second city of Alexandria yesterday, AFP correspondents reported, as tensions rose over a new constitution.
Lines of black-clad officers kept apart thousands of Islamists on one side and hundreds of anti-constitution protesters on the other. Dozens of rival protesters pelted each other with rocks in running battles.
The violence broke out on the eve of the final round of a referendum on the draft charter, which is backed by President Mohamed Morsi and his Islamist supporters.
Alexandria, which voted in the first round of the referendum last weekend, has seen several clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi protesters.
Islamists organised Friday's rally to protest last week's siege of the mosque, sparked by a cleric's call for people to vote yes in the constitution.
Duelling demonstrations have been taking place around Egypt for a month. On December 5, vicious clashes broke out in front of Morsi's presidential palace in Cairo, killing eight people and wounding more than 600.
The army has deployed 120,000 soldiers to bolster 130,000 police tasked with maintaining security during the volatile voting.