Death toll in Egypt's Port Said rises to 42, over 1,000 injured

The death toll in recent clashes in Egypt's riot-stricken Port Said governorate has risen to 42, while the total number of injured people has exceeded 1,000, medics said late Monday.

Official sources said a few hours ago that the death toll was 40, but another two were just reported to have been shot dead, raising the number to 42.

"One was shot dead in his pelvis during clashes outside al-Arab police station in Port Said, while the details about the second have not been confirmed yet," Abdel-Rahman Farag, head of all Port Said hospitals, told Xinhua Monday before midnight.

Clashes erupted Saturday in Port Said after a court sentenced 21 convicts from the governorate to death over last year's soccer riots that killed 74 people, which is known among Egyptians as " the Port Said massacre."

The clashes continued Sunday during a mass funeral held in Port Said for Saturday's victims.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Sunday evening decided to impose a 30-day curfew and a state of emergency in the governorates of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia, which witnessed over the past few days bloody confrontations between anti-government protesters and security forces.

The president attributed the bloody clashes to "sinful hands" that deviated from peaceful protests and expression of opinions to armed aggression and vandalism.

"I invite leaders of political forces for a dialogue Monday afternoon," Morsi said Sunday, stressing that there was no alternative to a dialogue among the Egyptian people to overcome the ongoing crisis.

Egypt's main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front (NSF), announced Monday its rejection of Morsi's invitation, demanding that Morsi amend the controversial, recently-drafted constitution, form "a qualified national salvation government," sack the current prosecutor-general and subject the Muslim Brotherhood to the law as preconditions for dialogue.

The dialogue started Monday night with the absence of the NSF, while a lot of people of the three governorates fearlessly violated the curfew.

Cairo (Xinhua)