Rare anti-govt protests take place in Egypt

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Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Cairo,  Rare anti-government protests broke out across Egypt against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, demanding his resignation, media reports said on Saturday.

The demonstrations on Friday night were in response to corruption allegations against President Sisi’s government, the BBC said.

“Sisi out” and “The people want to overthrow the regime” topped Egyptian Twitter’s trending list late Friday.

Hundreds of anti-regime protesters were in and around Tahrir Square in Cairo – a key site of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution – despite efforts to disperse them.

Demonstrations were also reported in Egypt’s second-largest city Alexandria and in Suez.

Meanwhile, Egyptian businessman and actor, Mohamed Ali, who lives in self-imposed exile in Spain, has posted a series of videos online accusing Sisi of wasting millions on luxury residences and hotels while millions of Egyptians live in poverty.

In his first video posted on Tuesday, he reportedly said that if President Sisi did not resign by Thursday “the Egyptian people will come out to the squares on Friday in protest”.

Sisi has dismissed the allegations as “lies and slander”.