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Armed
guards fire at pro-Morsi protesters, army denies involvement
Troops
have fired bullets into the crowd of pro-Morsi demonstrators marching
on the Republican Guard Headquarters located on the edge of Cairo's
Nasr City. 'At least' three have been reported dead, amid army
denials.
5
July, 2009
The
shooting happened as the Islamist crowd gathered on Salah Salem,
marching towards the barracks where the deposed President is being
held. Three have been reported dead, according to AFP, amid
eyewitness accounts of several causalities.
NBC
later reported that the figure stood at 4.
Supporters
rallying for the reinstatement of Morsi were wounded by gunfire as
they approached, according to Reuters. One witness informed the
agency that he saw several people taken down by shotgun pellets,
suffering from injuries.
An
AFP Cairo correspondent is fleeing the scene, with one BBC journalist
sustaining an injury.
As
the demonstrators had approached, a small collective of men placed a
poster of Morsi atop the barbed wire barrier closing off the military
cordon. Protesters reportedly waved shoes at police – a
traditionally insulting gesture – prior to the onslaught.
“We
are receiving reports that some of the protesters fired back at
Egyptian police,” said RT’s Paula Slier, based in Cairo.
Egypt's
security sources are denying that any people were killed following
the clashes, announcing on state radio that there have been no deaths
in the barrage of bullets.
An
army spokesperson said that only blank rounds and teargas were used
against the protesters, according to Reuters. It is unclear whether
security forces were present at the scene who did not belong to the
army. A media spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood, Gehad
El-Haddad, said that any shootings had been at the hands of the
neighboring military police.
Thousands
of Morsi supporters have been gathering across several locations in
Cairo in response to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s ousting by
the on Wednesday following anti-government protests.
The
groups have been assembling in response to a call by the alliance of
Islamist parties – which included Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, for
peaceful protests to condemn the ousting.
“There
certainly is a feeling that history is repeating itself – you need
to remember that it was just two years ago that the former Egyptian
president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. What people here on the
streets are saying is we’re witnessing another overthrow, and the
point is being made is that this was a democratically elected
president,” said Slier.
In
Cairo, supporters took to the streets at Cairo University and
Istiqama Mosque in nearby Giza Square, as well as in the Cairo
district of Heliopolis, not far from the Ittihadiya presidential
palace in addition to the Nasr City district action.
The
capital hasn’t been the sole location of the demonstrations: Unrest
swept the northern cities of Alexandia and Beheira following Friday
afternoon prayers.
22
dead, hundreds wounded as post-coup violence erupts in Egypt
CNN,
5
July, 2013
Fighting
erupted Friday across Egypt between hundreds of supporters of Mohamed
Morsy and their opponents, leaving nearly two dozen people dead and
hundreds more injured while raising fears of widening violence after
the military ousted the country's first democratically elected
president.
The
violence came as Morsy's supporters held massive protests across the
country, calling for his reinstatement, a counter to huge
demonstrations among those celebrating his ouster.
At
least 22 people were killed Friday and more than 500 were injured in
clashes across the country that at times pitted Morsy supporters
against his opponents and the military, state-run Egyptian television
reported, citing the Ministry of Health.
Among
those killed were five Morsy supporters who were shot by the army in
front of the headquarters of the Republican Guard headquarters, where
Morsy was said to be detained, the Muslim Brotherhood's political
wing -- the Freedom and Justice Party -- said.
Clashes
in Egypt turn deadly Egyptian military takes CNN camera Violence in
streets of Cairo after coup Pro-Morsy protesters hit with tear gas
The
health ministry reported that at least two people were killed and 65
injured in clashes there. But it did not detail the injuries that led
to the deaths of the two.
State
broadcaster Nile TV, citing an unnamed security source, said live
ammunition had not been used against demonstrators and no one was
hurt or killed.
The
fighting broke out when Morsy supporters tried to storm the building,
Nile TV said.
CNN's
Reza Sayah, reporting from outside the building, said he had seen one
body around which scores of Morsy supporters were huddled, some of
them crying.
A
few feet away, demonstrators faced off across a barbed-wire barricade
behind which stood a line of soldiers who detonated flash grenades
and fired tear gas in an apparent attempt to get the demonstrators to
move away.
Many
of them did just that, though thousands of others remained in
defiance. Demonstrators could be seen carrying away a wounded man.
Some demonstrators waved flags and held pictures of Morsy and vowed
not to leave until the military returns Morsy to office.
By
nightfall, clashes on a bridge near Tahrir Square began after a
standoff that saw anti-Morsy demonstrators advance on his supporters,
with both sides throwing rocks and shooting fireworks at each other
as hundreds of people ran, according to video footage.
About
100 soldiers, backed by armored personnel carriers, rolled on to the
bridge to separate the two sides and break up the fighting.
CNN's
Ben Wedeman was reporting live near the bridge when soldiers
unplugged his crew's camera and confiscated the equipment. Wedeman
said an agreement subsequently was reached that the camera would be
returned -- without the video footage.
The
violence was the latest fallout following Wednesday's move by the
nation's powerful military to remove Morsy.
Morsy
had become the nation's first democratically elected president a year
ago, but failed to fix the nation's ailing economy or improve its
crime problems and was seen by many as increasingly autocratic.
Human
Rights Watch has said he had continued abusive practices established
by Hosni Mubarak, who was pushed out in a popular uprising in 2011
after three decades of iron rule supported by the U.S. government.
"Numerous
journalists, political activists, and others were prosecuted on
charges of 'insulting' officials or institutions and 'spreading false
information,'" the rights group said.
Throngs
of protesters filled Egyptian streets for days, calling for him to
step down.
The
president's supporters turned out at massive counter demonstrations.
At times, the two sides clashed with deadly consequences.
On
Monday, the army gave Morsy 48 hours to agree to share power or be
pushed aside.
On
Wednesday, the military rejected Morsy's conciliatory gestures as
insufficient and announced its "road map" to stability and
new elections.
Morsy
and a number of leaders of the Brotherhood were arrested and may face
charges over the deaths of protesters during clashes with Morsy's
supporters, many of whom also died.
Moves
spark outrage
Adly
Mansour, head of the country's Supreme Constitutional Court, was
sworn in Thursday as interim president
He
immediately dissolved Egypt's upper house of parliament, the Shura
Council, and appointed a new head of intelligence, Egyptian state TV
said Friday.
The
moves sparked outrage among Egyptians who saw them as counter to what
their fledgling democracy was supposed to have been all about.
Mohamed
Badie, the Brotherhood's spiritual leader, exhorted the thousands of
people who packed the area around the Rabaa Adawiya mosque in Cairo
to fight back.
"The
coup is illegal and we will never accept its results," said
Badie, whose title is supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood. "We
sacrificed so dearly to reach this point, and we will never return to
the past again."
Badie
challenged the Egyptian army to "return to the arms of the
nation."
The
furor appeared to escalate during the day. By nightfall, a car was
burning on the 6th of October Bridge, which commemorates the 1973
Arab-Israeli war, and leads to Tahrir Square, a focal point for
anti-Morsy demonstrators.
In
Haram, a neighborhood of Giza in greater Cairo, one person was killed
and seven were injured when a group of armed men attacked a police
station, a spokesman for the health ministry said.
At
least 10 people were injured in clashes between supporters of Morsy
and residents in the city of Damanhour, about 160 kilometers (100
miles) northwest of Cairo, Nile TV said.
State
television showed pictures from Alexandria of security forces firing
tear gas at pro-Morsy demonstrators.
Outside
Cairo University, throngs of pro-Morsy demonstrators formed human
chains as others participating in a sit-in shouted, "Police are
thugs!"
Egypt's
armed forces said they would guarantee the rights of protesters as
long the protests resulted in neither violence nor destruction of
property.
Dismantling
the Brotherhood?
In
a move likely to spark further unrest among Morsy supporters,
Egyptian authorities arrested the Muslim Brotherhood's deputy supreme
leader, Khairat el-Shater, and Salafi politician Hazem Salah Abu
Ismail, on Friday in Cairo.
Abu
Ismail was being held on allegations of inciting the killing of
protesters in front of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo,
according to a statement released Friday by the prosecutor's office.
El-Shater,
who was the Muslim Brotherhood's first presidential candidate before
being replaced by eventual president Morsey, was being held in
connection with accusations he incited the killing of protesters in
recent days, state-run TV reported.
The
detention of the two men, who are wildly popular among their
followers, has raised fears it could spur more supporters into the
streets across the country where tensions have been running high in
the aftermath of Morsy's ouster.
Police.
meanwhile, were seeking hundreds of other Brotherhood members, state
media reported.
A
spokesman for the Freedom and Justice Party said Thursday the coup
had turned into "very, very questionable attempts by the
military to dismantle the Brotherhood."
The
Freedom and Justice Party chief, Saad el-Katatni, and the party
deputy, Rashad Al-Bayoumi, who were arrested Thursday, had been
released, Nile TV, said Friday.
The
Tamarod, or "Rebellion," movement, which had sought Morsy's
ouster, has nominated Mohamed ElBaradei, an opposition leader, to
become prime minister.
ElBaradei,
the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described
Morsy's ouster as a "correction of the uprising of 2011."
Other
opposition leaders and protesters have objected to the use of "coup"
to describe the military's removal of the elected president via
non-democratic means.
President
Barack Obama said the United States was "deeply concerned"
about the move, but did not use the word "coup."
Washington
has supplied Egypt's military with tens of billions of dollars in
support and equipment for more than 30 years. Under U.S. law, that
support could be cut off after a coup.
The
United States on Friday condemned the deadly violence following
Morsy's ouster.
"We
call on all Egyptian leaders to condemn the use of force and to
prevent further violence among their supporters," State
Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said.
"As
President Obama said, we expect the military to ensure that the
rights of all Egyptians are protected, including the right to
peaceful assembly, and we call on all who are protesting to do so
peacefully."
Meanwhile,
the African Union announced Friday that it suspended Egypt from its
ranks of member countries.
The
AU's Peace and Security Council also said it was sending a team to
Egypt to work toward restoring constitutional order.
More
violence, more deaths
Of
the 22 people killed Friday, state-run media reported 12 died in
clashes in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria, where Morsy's
supporters and opponents have reportedly clashed for days.
Elsewhere,
Islamist gunmen attacked Egyptian police stations and checkpoints in
the Sinai, killing at least one soldier, agencies reported.
A
senior intelligence officer who would not agree to being identified
said two police officers were killed in the northern Sinai city of
Arish when a group of men drove by the police station and shot them.
The
assaults may have nothing to do with extremist threats to avenge
Morsy's overthrow.
The
desert peninsula next to Israel and Gaza has long eluded the control
of Egyptian security forces, leaving extremists plenty of room to
establish themselves.
The
army said it was on high alert, a level below maximum alert, in the
Sinai and Suez provinces. The military was enforcing a curfew until 6
a.m. local time Saturday in the northern Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt
is the largest Arab country in the world and a close ally of the
United States, which gives it $1.5 billion per year for military and
civilian programs.
It
controls the Suez Canal, a crucial sea route through which more than
4% of the world's oil and 8% of its seaborne trade travel.
With
Jordan, it is one of two Arab countries that has made peace with
Israel.
African
Union Suspends Egypt Over President Morsi’s Ouster
5
July, 2013
ADDIS
ABABA, Ethiopia– The African Union is suspending Egypt from
membership in the continental body after the military ouster of
President Mohammed Morsi.
AU
Commission head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told a news conference Friday
that the removal of Morsi on Wednesday falls under the AU doctrine on
unconstitutional changes of government.
AU
officials decided Friday to block Egypt from all activities of the
continental body until constitutional order is restored in the
nation.
The
decision was taken after deliberations by the AU’s peace and
security council earlier Friday.
The
AU usually suspends the membership of countries where the military
ousts an elected government
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