Pro-Morsi protesters shout slogans during a rally in Cairo. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
The Muslim Brotherhood said at least 31 people were
killed on Saturday when security forces opened fire on a protest by
supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo.
"They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said. "The bullet wounds are in the head and chest."
The violence erupted on the fringes of a round-the-clock vigil being staged by backers of Morsi, who was ousted from power earlier this month by Egypt's military following mass protests against his first year in office.
Al Jazeera's Egypt television station showed medics desperately trying to revive casualties arriving at a field hospital at the Brotherhood sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya, a mosque in northeast Cairo.
El-Haddad said police started firing repeated rounds of tear-gas at protesters on a road close to the mosque sometime after 3.00 am (0100 GMT). Shortly afterwards, live rounds started flying, hitting people at close range.
The bloodshed came the day after supporters and opponents of Morsi
staged mass rival rallies across the country, bringing hundreds of
thousands into the streets and laying bare deep divisions within the
Arab world's most populous country.
Well over 200 people have died in violence since the overthrow of Mursi, most of them Brotherhood supporters.
There was no immediate word from the security forces about what they thought had happened at Rabaa early Saturday.
In the sprawling capital, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians heeded a call by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to hit the streets and give him a popular mandate to confront violence unleashed by his July 3 overthrow of Egypt's first freely elected president.
The Brotherhood mounted counter-demonstrations, swelling a month-long vigil in northern Cairo before violence erupted. A Reuters reporter saw heavy exchanges of gunfire in the early hours of Saturday between security forces and Morsi supporters, who tore up pavement concrete to lob at police.
At least nine people were killed in heavy fighting on Friday during rival mass rallies for and against the army overthrow of Morsi, who was placed under investigation for murder in an escalating showdown with his Islamist backers.
"They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said. "The bullet wounds are in the head and chest."
The violence erupted on the fringes of a round-the-clock vigil being staged by backers of Morsi, who was ousted from power earlier this month by Egypt's military following mass protests against his first year in office.
Al Jazeera's Egypt television station showed medics desperately trying to revive casualties arriving at a field hospital at the Brotherhood sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya, a mosque in northeast Cairo.
El-Haddad said police started firing repeated rounds of tear-gas at protesters on a road close to the mosque sometime after 3.00 am (0100 GMT). Shortly afterwards, live rounds started flying, hitting people at close range.
Well over 200 people have died in violence since the overthrow of Mursi, most of them Brotherhood supporters.
There was no immediate word from the security forces about what they thought had happened at Rabaa early Saturday.
In the sprawling capital, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians heeded a call by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to hit the streets and give him a popular mandate to confront violence unleashed by his July 3 overthrow of Egypt's first freely elected president.
The Brotherhood mounted counter-demonstrations, swelling a month-long vigil in northern Cairo before violence erupted. A Reuters reporter saw heavy exchanges of gunfire in the early hours of Saturday between security forces and Morsi supporters, who tore up pavement concrete to lob at police.
At least nine people were killed in heavy fighting on Friday during rival mass rallies for and against the army overthrow of Morsi, who was placed under investigation for murder in an escalating showdown with his Islamist backers.
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