Muslim Brotherhood protesters
Muslim Brotherhood protestersReuters

An Egyptian court has acquitted 155 people arrested during deadly clashes in the capital between Muslim Brotherhood protesters and police in October, AFP reported on Sunday, citing state media.

The Cairo misdemeanor court on Saturday dismissed the charges of assaulting policemen and vandalism over the October 6 clashes that killed almost 50 people, according to the Al-Ahram newspaper.

On October 6, security forces clashed with supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo as they tried to reach the capital's Tahrir Square, where the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War with Israel, known in Egypt as the October War, was being marked.

The defendants were held in custody for over a month and faced charges including "thuggery" and the use of weapons.

The acquittal came on the same day that Egyptian appeals courts ordered the release of 21 women and girls jailed over an Islamist opposition protest.

More than 1,000 people, mainly Morsi supporters, have been killed since July 3 when he was ousted and authorities have rounded up some 2,000 Islamists, including most of the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi is a member.

Morsi’s trial on charges of inciting the killing of protesters outside the presidential palace in 2012 began last month but was postponed shortly after it began, when the former president refused to wear a prisoner's uniform.