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| Egyptians lay on the ground after being injured during clashes between security forces and supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi in Ramses Square, near the Al-Fath mosque, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Aug. 16, 2013. Gunfire rang out over a main Cairo overpass and police fired tear gas as clashes broke out after tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters took to the streets Friday across Egypt in defiance of a military-imposed state of emergency following the country's bloodshed earlier this week. |
CAIRO (AP) --
Egypt's capital descended into chaos Friday as vigilantes at
neighborhood checkpoints battled Muslim Brotherhood-led protesters
denouncing the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi and a deadly
crackdown. The fiercest street clashes the city has seen in more than
two years of turmoil left more than 60 people dead, including several
policemen.
The sight of residents firing at
one another marked a dark turn in the conflict, as civilians armed with
pistols and assault rifle clashed with protesters taking part in what
the Muslim Brotherhood called a "Day of Rage," ignited by anger at
security forces for clearing two sit-in demonstrations Wednesday in
clashes that killed more than 600 people.
Military
helicopters circled overhead as residents furious with the Brotherhood
protests pelted them with rocks and glass bottles. The two sides also
fired on one another, sparking running street battles throughout the
capital's residential neighborhoods.
There was
little hope that an evening curfew would curb the violence as the
Muslim Brotherhood called on supporters of the country's ousted Islamist
president, Mohammed Morsi, to stage daily protests.
Unlike
in past clashes between protesters and police, residents and possibly
police in civilian clothing battled those participating in the
Brotherhood-led marches. There were few police in uniform to be seen as
neighborhood watchdogs and pro-Morsi protesters fired at one another for
hours on a bridge that crosses over Cairo's Zamalek district, an
upscale island neighborhood where many foreigners and ambassadors
reside.
Across the country, at least 56
civilians were killed, along with eight police officers, security
officials said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with
regulations.
The violence erupted shortly
after midday weekly prayers when tens of thousands of Brotherhood
supporters answered the group's call to protest across Egypt in defiance
of a military-imposed state of emergency following the bloodshed
earlier this week.
Armed civilians manned
impromptu checkpoints throughout the capital, banning Brotherhood
marches from approaching and frisking anyone wanting to pass through. At
one checkpoint, residents barred ambulances and cars carrying wounded
from Cairo's main battleground, Ramses Square, from reaching a hospital.
The
scenes highlighted how dangerous the divisions in Egypt have become. At
least nine police stations were attacked Friday, officials said.
Egypt's police force was rocked by the country's 2011 uprising that
ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak from power and has not fully
recovered since.
On Thursday, the Interior
Ministry said it had authorized the use of deadly force against anyone
targeting police and state institutions. But the threat appeared not to
intimidate protesters.
The Brotherhood-led
marches in Cairo headed toward Ramses Square, near the country's main
train station.
The area is near Tahrir Square, where the army put up
barbed wire and deployed 30 tanks outside the Cairo Museum overlooking
the square as a buffer between the protesters and a small
anti-Brotherhood encampment in the square.
Several
of the protesters were seen writing their names and relatives' phone
numbers on one another's chests and undershirts in case they were to die
in Friday's clashes.
Tawfik Dessouki, a Brotherhood supporter, said he was ready to fight for "democracy" and against the military's ouster of Morsi.
"I
am here for the blood of the people who died. We didn't have a
revolution to go back to a police and military state again and to be
killed by the state," he said during a march headed toward Ramses
Square.
At least 12 people were killed near
the square after police fired on protesters. Some appeared to be trying
to attack a nearby police station, security officials said. Inside
Al-Fath mosque near Ramses Square, where the Brotherhood urged its Cairo
supporters to converge, blood-soaked bodies with bullets to the head
and chest lay next to one another.
Associated
Press photographers saw many of the dead inside the
mosque-turned-morgue, which was also acting as a field hospital where
the wounded were being wheeled in on wooden crates. One corpse had a
name and phone number scribbled on the chest.
The
upper floors of a commercial building towering over Ramses Square
caught fire later in the day, with flames engulfing it for hours. It was
not immediately clear what caused the fire at the building housing the
Arab Contractors' construction company, but no injuries were reported.
Similar
scenes played out in Egypt's second-largest city of Alexandria, where
at least 10 people were killed in clashes between protesters and their
rivals, according to a security official. Violence was also fierce in
the province of Fayoum, just west of Cairo, where 11 people died during
an attempt to storm the main security building there.
Fighting also broke out in at least five other provinces.
In
the southern province of Minya, two churches were attacked by
protesters, security officials said. At churches across the country,
residents formed human chains to protect them from further assaults, and
a civilian was killed while trying to protect a church in Sohag, south
of Cairo, authorities said.
Many of Morsi's
supporters have voiced criticism at Egypt's Christian minority for
largely supporting the military's decision to oust him from office, and
dozens of churches have been attacked this week.
Also
Friday, security officials said assailants detonated explosives on
train tracks between Alexandria and the western Mediterranean Sea
province of Marsa Matrouh. There were no injuries and no trains were
damaged, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with
regulations.
Egypt, the Arab world's most
populous nation, has been in turmoil since Morsi was removed from power
by the military on July 3, following days of mass protests against him
and his Brotherhood group. But Morsi's supporters have remained defiant,
demanding the coup be overturned. The international community has urged
both sides to show restraint and end the turmoil engulfing the nation.
On
Wednesday, riot police backed by armored vehicles and bulldozers
cleared two sprawling encampments of Morsi supporters, sparking clashes
that killed at least 638 people. Some 40 police officers also were
killed.
The Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, said in a statement Friday that the group is not backing down.
"The
struggle to overthrow this illegitimate regime is an obligation, an
Islamic, national, moral and human obligation which we will not steer
away from until justice and freedom prevail, and until repression is
conquered," the statement said.
The group also asserted that its protests were peaceful.
The revolutionary and liberal groups that helped topple Morsi have largely stayed away from street rallies in recent weeks.
Meanwhile,
state-run and private television stations have been broadcasting
footage from Wednesday's violence they say shows armed men firing toward
security forces. Graphic videos have emerged online portraying the
violence from the vantage point of the protesters.
One
video, authenticated by The Associated Press based on landmarks and
reporting from Wednesday's crackdown, shows armored personnel carriers
driving protesters back from an area near the main sit-in as continuous
volleys of automatic gunfire rang out.
In the
footage, the crowd was shown retreating after throwing stones at the
approaching vehicles, leaving several bloodied men motionless on the
ground. After a loudspeaker announcement instructed the crowd to
evacuate, promising safe passage, a vehicle approached and the barrel of
a weapon emerged from one of its gun ports.
