by Our Foreign Desk

EGYPT’S authorities and the banned Muslim Brotherhood blamed each other for violence that claimed five lives at a protest in Cairo yesterday.

Around 500 Muslim Brotherhood supporters staged a march in the Talibiya neighbourhood of Giza, part of greater Cairo, after morning prayers following the end of the holy month of Ramadan and the start of major Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

The demonstration followed a call from the former governing party, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by the government, declaring that “your Eid is your revolution.”

An unnamed official told reporters that skirmishes broke out between marchers on one side and several local residents and police on the other.

Violence escalated and shots were fired. Four people were also wounded in the clashes.

Authorities said that unknown assailants fired on the march, but the Muslim Brotherhood contradicted that, saying the deaths had occurred as police tried to disperse the marchers.

A video circulating on social media showed a crowd of young demonstrators in a stand-off with police, shooting fireworks in their direction and burning flares before running away as explosions are heard.

Egyptian news agency Mena later reported that police had taken control of the area, which is located near the main road that leads to the famed Giza pyramids.

The agency reported that a total of six people were killed in the violence, including one in the nearby town of Nahia, a Brotherhood stronghold.

Mena said that the man killed in Nahia was a known Brotherhood supporter and demonstrator who had previously been detained by police.

Police also arrested 20 Brotherhood supporters, Mena said.

The movement was banned for decades under the regime of Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown in the 2011 uprising, during which its leader Mohammed Morsi escaped from prison.

Mr Morsi was elected president in 2012 but was soon overthrown in another uprising.

He is currently in prison after being sentenced to death for killings of opposition protesters in 2012 and 2013, events which led to the military takeover.