Clashes between Egyptian police and Islamists killed at least two people today, as the country awaited results of a constitutional referendum billed as a popular endorsement of president Mohamed Morsi's overthrow.
Clashes between Morsi's Islamist supporters and tear gas- firing police were reported in several cities, security officials said, a day before the referendum's results were expected.
The interim authorities trumpeted the Tuesday and Wednesday poll as a chance for voters to show their support for the army's overthrow in July, after massive street protests, of Egypt's first freely elected president.
Flagship state-owned daily Al-Ahram hailed a 98 percent vote in support of the new charter drafted to replace the Islamist-inspired one adopted under Morsi in 2012.
The Islamists, who boycotted the vote, described it as a farce and predicted it would culminate in the sort of massive electoral fraud that characterised Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule, ended by the Arab Spring uprising of 2011.
A coalition led by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood called for further protests, such as the rallies Friday that turned violent in several cities.
One man was killed in Cairo and another in clashes in Fayoum, southwest of the capital, the health ministry said, as police clamped down in what has become a weekly ritual in a massive crackdown on pro-Morsi protests.
In Cairo's Alf Maskan area, demonstrators aimed fire works at police, who scattered for cover when they heard bursts of automatic gunfire from the protesters' side.
A policemen fired an assault rifle in the protesters' direction.
The government hoped a large turnout among Egypt's 53 million registered voters would bolster its democratic credentials and further marginalise the Islamists.
Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the man who toppled Morsi, was closely monitoring that as an indicator of support for a presidential bid later this year, military officials said.
