Supporters of ousted Egyptian
president Mohamed Morsi announced new
demonstrations on Sunday as the country grew
increasingly polarised and the death toll in four
days of violence topped 750. The fresh protests come after a violent
standoff between Islamists and security forces
at a mosque in central Cairo on Saturday, that
briefly turned the area into a battleground. Security forces traded fire with gunmen inside
the Al-Fath mosque before eventually dragging
protesters outside, where angry mobs awaited
them, chanting “terrorists.” The interior ministry said 385 people inside the
mosque had been arrested, and the
government gave new death toll figures that
brought the number of dead in four days to
751. Despite the violence, the Anti-Coup Alliance of
Morsi supporters said they would hold several
rallies in Cairo and elsewhere. The announcement suggested there was no
end in sight to the street confrontations that
have gripped Egypt since Morsi’s ouster. There was renewed speculation that the
government would move to ban Morsi’s Muslim
Brotherhood, although the military-installed
interim presidency appeared to dismiss the
idea. “We’re not into the effort of dissolving anyone
or preventing anyone” from taking part in
politics, presidential adviser Mustafa Hegazy
insisted on Saturday. According to an AFP tally, more than 1,000
people have been killed since mass
demonstrations against Morsi at the end of
June. He was deposed by the military on July 3 in
what his supporters call a coup, but his
opponents deem a popular uprising like the
one that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in
2011. The ouster, and the subsequent bloodshed has
drawn mounting international criticism. On Saturday night, Germany and Qatar jointly
condemned the “brutal violence” and United
Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged “maximum
restraint.” Their criticism came as security forces
surrounded the Al-Fath mosque in Cairo’s
Ramses Square where Islamists were
sheltering. They had entered the mosque a day earlier,
turning it into a makeshift mortuary for dozens
of protesters killed on Thursday. At first, security forces tried to persuade the
protesters to leave, but by Saturday afternoon,
the situation turned violent. Police traded fire with gunmen inside the
mosque, leaving bullet holes in its minaret. Eventually, they dragged Islamists from the
mosque, firing in the air to keep at bay angry
civilians armed with sticks and iron bars who
tried to beat the protesters. On Saturday afternoon, the government said
173 people had been killed in 24 hours, in
addition to 578 killed on Wednesday, when
police cleared two pro-Morsi protest camps. Among those killed on Friday was a son of
Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s supreme
guide. The interior ministry said it had arrested 1,004
Brotherhood “elements” during the unrest, and
on Saturday security sources said the brother
of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri had been
detained. Security sources also said one soldier was
killed in northern Sinai where militants have
launched daily attacks against security forces. The interim government has defended the
crackdown, with presidential adviser Hegazy
saying the security forces had acted with “a
huge amount of self-restraint and self-
control”. But international criticism mounted, with
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle
saying he and his Qatari counterpart were
“deeply distressed by the ongoing and brutal
violence in Egypt.” Westerwelle urged the two sides to resume
dialogue, citing a “danger of civil war.” Late Saturday, British Foreign Secretary William
Hague called his Egyptian counterpart to
express London’s “condemnation of all acts of
violence, whether disproportionate use of
force by the security forces or violent actions
by some demonstrators.” Attacks on mosques and churches were
“unacceptable,” Hague stressed. Islamists have
torched churches of the country’s Coptic
minority, whom they accuse of backing Morsi’s
ouster. UN chief Ban urged an end to violent protests
and condemned “excessive use of force” in
handling them. “He strongly condemns attacks on churches,
hospitals, and other public facilities, which he
finds unacceptable,” his spokesman said. Elsewhere, thousands marched in Turkey
against Morsi’s ouster, and the Vatican said
Pope Francis was following events with
“mounting concern.” The pontiff was praying for the rival sides to
“choose the path of dialogue and
reconciliation,” the Vatican said. The United States has announced the
cancellation of its biannual military exercise
with Egypt, but stopped short of suspending $
1.3 billion in annual aid. The US embassy in Cairo said it would stay shut
on Sunday, a working day in Egypt, citing the
possibility of fresh demonstrations nearby. But the international response has not been
uniformly critical. Saudi Arabia and Jordan said
they backed Egypt in its fight against
“terrorism”.
president Mohamed Morsi announced new
demonstrations on Sunday as the country grew
increasingly polarised and the death toll in four
days of violence topped 750. The fresh protests come after a violent
standoff between Islamists and security forces
at a mosque in central Cairo on Saturday, that
briefly turned the area into a battleground. Security forces traded fire with gunmen inside
the Al-Fath mosque before eventually dragging
protesters outside, where angry mobs awaited
them, chanting “terrorists.” The interior ministry said 385 people inside the
mosque had been arrested, and the
government gave new death toll figures that
brought the number of dead in four days to
751. Despite the violence, the Anti-Coup Alliance of
Morsi supporters said they would hold several
rallies in Cairo and elsewhere. The announcement suggested there was no
end in sight to the street confrontations that
have gripped Egypt since Morsi’s ouster. There was renewed speculation that the
government would move to ban Morsi’s Muslim
Brotherhood, although the military-installed
interim presidency appeared to dismiss the
idea. “We’re not into the effort of dissolving anyone
or preventing anyone” from taking part in
politics, presidential adviser Mustafa Hegazy
insisted on Saturday. According to an AFP tally, more than 1,000
people have been killed since mass
demonstrations against Morsi at the end of
June. He was deposed by the military on July 3 in
what his supporters call a coup, but his
opponents deem a popular uprising like the
one that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in
2011. The ouster, and the subsequent bloodshed has
drawn mounting international criticism. On Saturday night, Germany and Qatar jointly
condemned the “brutal violence” and United
Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged “maximum
restraint.” Their criticism came as security forces
surrounded the Al-Fath mosque in Cairo’s
Ramses Square where Islamists were
sheltering. They had entered the mosque a day earlier,
turning it into a makeshift mortuary for dozens
of protesters killed on Thursday. At first, security forces tried to persuade the
protesters to leave, but by Saturday afternoon,
the situation turned violent. Police traded fire with gunmen inside the
mosque, leaving bullet holes in its minaret. Eventually, they dragged Islamists from the
mosque, firing in the air to keep at bay angry
civilians armed with sticks and iron bars who
tried to beat the protesters. On Saturday afternoon, the government said
173 people had been killed in 24 hours, in
addition to 578 killed on Wednesday, when
police cleared two pro-Morsi protest camps. Among those killed on Friday was a son of
Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s supreme
guide. The interior ministry said it had arrested 1,004
Brotherhood “elements” during the unrest, and
on Saturday security sources said the brother
of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri had been
detained. Security sources also said one soldier was
killed in northern Sinai where militants have
launched daily attacks against security forces. The interim government has defended the
crackdown, with presidential adviser Hegazy
saying the security forces had acted with “a
huge amount of self-restraint and self-
control”. But international criticism mounted, with
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle
saying he and his Qatari counterpart were
“deeply distressed by the ongoing and brutal
violence in Egypt.” Westerwelle urged the two sides to resume
dialogue, citing a “danger of civil war.” Late Saturday, British Foreign Secretary William
Hague called his Egyptian counterpart to
express London’s “condemnation of all acts of
violence, whether disproportionate use of
force by the security forces or violent actions
by some demonstrators.” Attacks on mosques and churches were
“unacceptable,” Hague stressed. Islamists have
torched churches of the country’s Coptic
minority, whom they accuse of backing Morsi’s
ouster. UN chief Ban urged an end to violent protests
and condemned “excessive use of force” in
handling them. “He strongly condemns attacks on churches,
hospitals, and other public facilities, which he
finds unacceptable,” his spokesman said. Elsewhere, thousands marched in Turkey
against Morsi’s ouster, and the Vatican said
Pope Francis was following events with
“mounting concern.” The pontiff was praying for the rival sides to
“choose the path of dialogue and
reconciliation,” the Vatican said. The United States has announced the
cancellation of its biannual military exercise
with Egypt, but stopped short of suspending $
1.3 billion in annual aid. The US embassy in Cairo said it would stay shut
on Sunday, a working day in Egypt, citing the
possibility of fresh demonstrations nearby. But the international response has not been
uniformly critical. Saudi Arabia and Jordan said
they backed Egypt in its fight against
“terrorism”.
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