3 supporters of Morsi shot dead in Cairo's 'Friday of Rage' march
Source: Agencies |
July 6, 2013, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AT least three protesters were shot dead yesterday outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo where deposed President Mohamed Morsi is being held, as angry Islamist supporters confronted troops across Egypt.
A crowd of several hundred people marched toward the barracks as part of what Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement has called a "Friday of Rage" to protest against his ouster.
Egypt's first freely elected president was toppled on Wednesday in what his Islamist supporters call a military coup.
Television footage showed Morsi supporters with what appeared to be shotgun pellet wounds. The army denied blame.
An army spokesman said troops did not open fire on the demonstrators and soldiers used only blank rounds and teargas to control the crowd.
Before the demonstrations, a military source said the armed forces would allow people to demonstrate where they wanted.
Continued violence will alarm the United States. Washington has so far avoided referring to the army's removal of Morsi as a coup, a word that under US law would require a halt to its US$1.5 billion in annual aid. Morsi's opponents also say it was not a coup but an intervention to impose the "people's will."
Thousands of Islamists took to the streets of Alexandria and Assiut to join protests, opposing a planned interim government which is backed by their liberal opponents. Egypt's liberal coalition issued an "urgent call" for its supporters to take to the streets in response to Islamist protests.
In Damanhour, capital of the Beheira province in the Nile Delta, 21 people were wounded in violence between the factions.
Ehab el-Ghoneimy, manager of the Damanhour general hospital, said three people had been wounded with live bullets, others were wounded with birdshot, rocks, or had been hit with rods.
In the Suez city of Ismailia, soldiers fired into the air as Morsi supporters tried to break into the governor's office. The Islamists retreated and there were no casualties, security sources said.
Egypt has been in turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in the "Arab Spring" revolutions that swept the region in 2011. Several dozen people have been killed in the last month of unrest, during which huge rallies in Cairo and other cities called for Morsi's resignation amid anger over economic stagnation and perceptions of a Brotherhood power grab.
His overthrow was greeted with wild scenes of celebration involving millions of people, but also infuriated his supporters who fear a return to the suppression of Islamists they endured under generations of military rule.
Hoda Ghaneya, a leading female figure in the Brotherhood, said she and two of her sons accompanying her at a Cairo rally after Friday prayers were ready to sacrifice themselves to the cause, but added that they would not turn to violence.
"We will die not as a sacrifice for Morsi, but so the Egyptian people recover their freedom," she said near the Rabaa Adaweya mosque in a Cairo suburb that has been the center of Islamist protests in the last few days.
Tens of thousands of people had gathered there following yesterday's violent clashes.
A crowd of several hundred people marched toward the barracks as part of what Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement has called a "Friday of Rage" to protest against his ouster.
Egypt's first freely elected president was toppled on Wednesday in what his Islamist supporters call a military coup.
Television footage showed Morsi supporters with what appeared to be shotgun pellet wounds. The army denied blame.
An army spokesman said troops did not open fire on the demonstrators and soldiers used only blank rounds and teargas to control the crowd.
Before the demonstrations, a military source said the armed forces would allow people to demonstrate where they wanted.
Continued violence will alarm the United States. Washington has so far avoided referring to the army's removal of Morsi as a coup, a word that under US law would require a halt to its US$1.5 billion in annual aid. Morsi's opponents also say it was not a coup but an intervention to impose the "people's will."
Thousands of Islamists took to the streets of Alexandria and Assiut to join protests, opposing a planned interim government which is backed by their liberal opponents. Egypt's liberal coalition issued an "urgent call" for its supporters to take to the streets in response to Islamist protests.
In Damanhour, capital of the Beheira province in the Nile Delta, 21 people were wounded in violence between the factions.
Ehab el-Ghoneimy, manager of the Damanhour general hospital, said three people had been wounded with live bullets, others were wounded with birdshot, rocks, or had been hit with rods.
In the Suez city of Ismailia, soldiers fired into the air as Morsi supporters tried to break into the governor's office. The Islamists retreated and there were no casualties, security sources said.
Egypt has been in turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in the "Arab Spring" revolutions that swept the region in 2011. Several dozen people have been killed in the last month of unrest, during which huge rallies in Cairo and other cities called for Morsi's resignation amid anger over economic stagnation and perceptions of a Brotherhood power grab.
His overthrow was greeted with wild scenes of celebration involving millions of people, but also infuriated his supporters who fear a return to the suppression of Islamists they endured under generations of military rule.
Hoda Ghaneya, a leading female figure in the Brotherhood, said she and two of her sons accompanying her at a Cairo rally after Friday prayers were ready to sacrifice themselves to the cause, but added that they would not turn to violence.
"We will die not as a sacrifice for Morsi, but so the Egyptian people recover their freedom," she said near the Rabaa Adaweya mosque in a Cairo suburb that has been the center of Islamist protests in the last few days.
Tens of thousands of people had gathered there following yesterday's violent clashes.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
