State crackdown in Egypt sparks deadly clashes

In Egypt, more than a dozen people have been shot dead following a day of bloody violence across the country.

In the capital Cairo, street battles between police and supporters of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood continued late into the night.

Egypt’s military rulers have branded the Islamist organisation a terrorist group. Despite that, many of the Brotherhood’s activists still seemed bent on defying an ever widening state crackdown.

Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria also saw large-scale unrest and at least two dead.

The latest violence comes less than two weeks before Egypt holds a constitutional referendum aimed at returning the country to democratic rule.