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AT LEAST eight people were killed yesterday as Egyptians went to the polls in a referendum on a new constitution for the politically riven country.
Clashes in the cities of Sohag, Ismailia and Giza between police and protesters loyal to the country’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi came hours after Egyptians started voting on the new constitution.
Officials said police fired on around 300 pro-Morsi protesters after officers came under fire from rooftops during a rally.
A massive security operation was mounted to protect polling stations and voters, with 160,000 soldiers and more than 200,000 policemen deployed across the nation.
Hundreds of thousands of fliers, posters, banners and billboards urged Egyptians to vote Yes while campaigns urging a No vote have led to arrests.
The referendum is the sixth nationwide vote since Hosni Mubarak was deposed in a popular uprising in 2011.
Shortly before polls opened an explosive device went off outside a Cairo courthouse in the densely populated Imbaba neighbourhood.
The blast damaged the building’s front and shattered windows in nearby buildings but caused no casualties.
Long lines of voters began to form nearly two hours before polling stations opened in some Cairo districts, including Imbaba, where the blast whipped up anti-Brotherhood sentiment.
A crowd of several hundred angry residents gathered outside the courthouse, some carrying posters of Deputy Prime Minister General Abdel el-Sissi.
The two-day ballot is the first electoral test for the coup that ousted Mr Morsi and the Islamic Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood, which is now branded a terrorist group, has called for a boycott of the vote.
Mr Morsi’s supporters have said they will stage massive demonstrations and have labelled the draft charter a “constitution of blood.”
But in response the government warned it would deal harshly with anyone interfering with the referendum.
There were small demonstrations by Morsi supporters in different parts of the country but they only attracted a few dozen supporters.
In one incident, in the province of Bani Suef south of Cairo, one Morsi supporter was shot dead as he and about 100 others tried to storm a polling station.
