Tear gas at launch of Egypt demo in defiance of ban

Cairo: Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters as around 50 anti-government demonstrators gathered in a square of Egypt's capital Monday in defiance of an official ban, an AFP journalist said.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his interior minister had warned on the eve of the planned demonstrations that security forces would deal firmly with protesters.

Police had sealed off access to three venues for protests called by the secular and leftist opposition as well as making dozens of arrests over the previous four days.

The protesters who gathered in a small square came under tear gas fire after a first police van at the scene was pelted with stones, the journalist said.

Several arrests were made and journalists briefly detained until their credentials had been verified.

Sisi, who has ruled Egypt with an iron fist and cracked down on all dissent, said Sunday: "Our responsibility is to protect security and stability."

His Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar warned that "the security services... will confront with extreme rigour any attempt to disturb public order".

The protest coincides with a public holiday to mark the anniversary of Israel's return to Egypt in 1982 the Sinai Peninsula.

In July 2013, Sisi, then the army chief, overthrew Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and launched a deadly crackdown on his supporters.

Authorities have since banned all but police-approved rallies and overseen a crackdown that has left hundreds of Morsi supporters dead and thousands imprisoned.

Several secular and leftist activists who spearheaded the 2011 uprising against longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak have also been jailed.