CAIRO, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Despite the curfew that started a few hours go in Egypt's three turmoil-hit governorates of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia due to the recent bloody clashes, a lot of anti-government protestors took to the streets Monday night, fearlessly violating the curfew and ignoring the deployed armed forces.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Sunday imposed a 30-day curfew and a state of emergency in the three governorates, which witnessed over the past few days bloody confrontations between anti-government protesters and security forces that killed dozens and injured over 1,000.
In Port Said, thousands of people marched for demonstrations in rejection of the curfew and the state of emergency.
"If they wanted to secure the city, they did not have to impose a curfew and an emergency state," Mahmoud, a 35-year-old clothing store owner in Port Said, told Xinhua, "Now all stores are closed and army is deployed, but protests are going on without friction with army."
Mohamed, a 48-year-old contractor, said the curfew is a normal step to restore security, but he is against the state of emergency, arguing that ending the emergency law was one of the demands of the 2011 protests that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
The situation was not much different in Suez, as throngs of people headed to the al-Arbaeen Square to protest the curfew.
"Suez is blazing," said Suez resident Ashraf al-Adawi, "I see the armed forces deployed outside vital institutions in the city, but the protestors intend to spend the whole night in the square."
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