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| Egyptians security forces escort an Islamist supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood out of the al-Fatah mosque, after hundreds of Islamist protesters barricaded themselves inside the mosque overnight, following a day of fierce street battles that left scores of people dead, near Ramses Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013. Authorities say police in Cairo are negotiating with people barricaded in a mosque and promising them safe passage if they leave. Muslim Brotherhood supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president are vowing to defy a state of emergency with new protests today, adding to the tension. |
CAIRO (AP) --
Egyptian security forces stormed a Cairo mosque Saturday after a heavy
exchange of gunfire with armed men shooting down from a minaret,
rounding up hundreds of supporters of the country's ousted president who
had sought refuge there overnight after violent clashes killed 173
people.
The raid on the al-Fath mosque on
Ramses Square was prompted by fears that deposed President
Mohammed
Morsi's group, the Muslim Brotherhood, again planned to set up a sit-in,
security officials said, similar to those that were broken up Wednesday
in assaults that killed hundreds of people.
The
arrest of the brother of al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri came in
connection to the raid on the mosque. Officials said that he planned to
bring in armed groups to provide support to those holed up inside the
mosque.
Mohammed al-Zawahri, a Morsi ally, is
the leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafi group which espouses
al-Qaida's hardline ideology. He was detained at a checkpoint in Giza,
the city across the Nile from Cairo, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to brief journalists about the arrest.
The
Egyptian government meanwhile announced it had begun deliberations on
whether to ban the Brotherhood, a long-outlawed organization that swept
to power in the country's first democratic elections a year ago.
Such
a ban - which authorities say is rooted in the group's use of violence -
would be a repeat to the decades-long power struggle between the state
and the Brotherhood.
For more than a month
since the July 3 military overthrow of Morsi, Brotherhood members and
supporters have attacked and torched scores of police stations and
churches, in retaliation. Shops and houses of Christians have also been
targeted.
Such attacks spurred widespread
public anger against the Brotherhood, giving the military-backed
government popular backing to step up its campaign against the Islamist
group. It reminded people of a decade-long Islamist insurgency against
Mubarak's rule in the 1990s which only strengthened security agencies
and ended up with thousands of Islamic fundamentalists in prisons.
The
unrest in Egypt has raised international concerns over the country's
stability and prompted U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to condemn in a
statement on Saturday both "violent protests" in reference to
Brotherhood's rallies and the authorities' "excessive use of force."
Ban
also noted, in an apparent rebuff of Brotherhood demands to reinstate
Morsi, that the "political clocks move only forward, not backward" and
urged "maximum restraint and shift immediately to de-escalation."
Former
President Jimmy Carter expressed deep concern over the violence, saying
it is "rapidly eroding the chances for dialogue and a road to
reconciliation." Carter added that he is "especially concerned that
Egyptians are arming themselves and engaging in inter-communal
violence."
In Cairo, the assault on the
al-Fath Mosque began on Friday when pro-Morsi protesters and armed men
fled into the worship center to avoid angry vigilantes and arrest. They
piled furniture in the mosque's entrance to block authorities and
enraged anti-Morsi protesters from reaching them.
The
mosque served as a field hospital and an open-air morgue as a
Brotherhood-called day of protests descended into violence. By daybreak
Saturday, security forces and armored personnel carriers had surrounded
the mosque and it appeared that military-led negotiations might defuse
the standoff.
A post on the Facebook page of
the army spokesman, Col. Mohammed Ali, accused gunmen of firing from the
mosque at nearby buildings, located on Ramses Square in central Cairo.
The upper floors of a commercial building and blood bank towering over
the square caught fire during the mayhem, with flames engulfing it for
hours.
A Muslim cleric, Sheik Abdel-Hafiz
el-Maslami, told The Associated Press that people were afraid to leave
the mosque out of fear of detention or being assaulted by the crowd
outside. He said there were armed men inside the mosque at one point but
protesters had forced them out.
"We lost
control over things," the cleric said. "There were men with arms in the
mosque who were forced out of the mosque but we can't control things
here."
He said there were ongoing negotiations
with the military to enable the protesters to safely leave. State
television showed small groups emerging from the mosque by late Saturday
morning.
However, local journalist Shaimaa
Awad who was trapped in the mosque with the Islamists said the talks
failed after three women were detained by the military after agreeing to
get out early Saturday morning.
An AP
reporter said that thousands of anti-Islamist protesters rallied outside
the mosque, chanting: "God take revenge on Morsi and those standing
behind him!"
Army tanks and soldiers closed off the main entrances to Ramses Square as soldiers sealed off the area with barbed wire.
By
midday Saturday, gunmen took over a mosque minaret and opened fire on
the security forces below, the state-run MENA news agency said. The
crowd around the mosque panicked as soldiers opened fire with assault
rifles, the chaos broadcast live on local television channels.
Several
security officials told The Associated Press that ending the standoff
at the mosque was essential after receiving information that the group
planned to turn it into a new sit-in protest camp. They spoke on
condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
On
Wednesday, riot police, military helicopters, snipers and bulldozers
broke up two sit-in protests in Cairo by Morsi's supporters, leaving
more than 600 people dead and thousands injured. That sparked days of
violence that killed 173 people and injured 1,330 people on Friday
alone, when the Brotherhood called for protests during a "Day of Rage,"
Cabinet spokesman Sherif Shawki said.
Among
those who died Friday was Ammar Badie, a son of the Brotherhood's
spiritual leader Mohammed Badie, the group's political arm said in a
statement.
Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi,
who leads the military-backed government, later told journalists that
authorities had no choice but to use force in the wake of recent
violence.
"I feel sorry for valuable blood
shed," el-Beblawi said. However, he cautioned that there will be no
"reconciliation with those whose hands are stained with blood or those
who hold weapons against the country's institutions."
Signaling
the Brotherhood's precarious political position, Shawki said the
government was considering ordering that the group be disbanded. The
spokesman said the prime minister had assigned the Ministry of Social
Solidarity to study the legal possibilities of dissolving the group. He
didn't elaborate.
Mustafa Hegazy, a political
adviser to interim President Adly Mansour, told a press conference
Saturday that the current Egyptian leadership is not in a "political
dispute or difference" with the Brotherhood, instead, "we are in a war
against treason and some sort of terrorism."
He
added that Egyptians took to the streets on June 30 - the day that led
to Morsi's ouster - to revolt against "religious fascism."
The
Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, came to power a year ago when
Morsi was elected in the country's first free presidential elections.
The election came after the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a
popular uprising in 2011.
The fundamentalist
group has been banned for most of its 85-year history and repeatedly
subjected to crackdowns under Mubarak's rule. While sometimes tolerated
with its leaders allowed to be part of the political process, members
regularly faced long bouts of imprisonment and arbitrary detentions.
Disbanding
the group, experts say, would mean allowing security forces to have a
zero-tolerance policy in dealing with the group's street protests, as
well as going after its funding sources. That could be a serious blow to
the Brotherhood, though it likely wouldn't mean an end to a group that
existed underground for decades
The possible banning comes amid calls by pro-military political forces to brand the Brotherhood a "terrorist organization."
"We
are calling for declaring the Brotherhood as a terrorist group," said
Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, one of the leaders of the Tamarod youth movement
that had organized mass rallies calling for Morsi's ouster.
The
military-backed government has declared a state of emergency and
imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew since Wednesday, empowering army troops to
act as a law enforcement force. Top Brotherhood leaders, including
Morsi, remain held on a variety of charges, including inciting violence.
Since
Morsi was deposed in the popularly backed military coup, the
Brotherhood has stepped up its confrontation with the new leadership,
rallying thousands of supporters in sit-ins and vowing not to leave
until Morsi is reinstated.
After security
forces broke up the protest camps, Islamist supporters stormed and
torched churches and police stations. In response, the interim
government authorized Egypt's security forces to use deadly force
against those attacking vital government institutions.
On
Saturday, Egypt's Interior Ministry said in a statement that a total of
1,004 Brotherhood members had been detained in raids across the country
and that weapons, bombs and ammunition were confiscated from the
detainees.
Several foreigners were also rounded up including Sudanese, Pakistanis and Syrians, the Interior Ministry said.
Morsi
himself has been held incommunicado since his ouster. Top Brotherhood
leaders including General Guide Deputy Khairat el-Shater were detained
last month.
