According to Reuters, there are at least 74 dead, and over 1,000 injured.
In Alexandria, Protesters Rout the Police, for Now
In a sign of flagging resolve, the police began to retreat and then stopped fighting entirely. It was unclear whether this was an ordered police retreat or a spontaneous, and disorganized, reaction to the situation.
After the two-hour street battle ended, protesters and police officers shook hands on the same street corner where minutes before they were exchanging volleys of stones, and tear-gas canisters were arcing through the sky.
Riot police officers and kaffiyeh-wearing youths smiled and shared water bottles as piles of tires still burned. Then thousands lined the coastal road, the gentle green waves of the Mediterranean Sea at their backs, as they got on their knees and prayed.
Such were the incongruities on a day that began quietly as always on Friday, the Muslim holy day, but soon gave way to the unrest and tensions gripping much of the country.
