MB Initiates Riots in Cairo In Push for Fresh Martyrs [Update]

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Update1 [2013-07-27 6:31am by Oui]:

At least 70 shot dead by Egypt’s security services during attack on Morsi supporters

(Independent) – Al Jazeera’s Egyptian television station reported that as many as 120 had been killed in the demonstrations and up to 4,500 injured, with journalists at the scene saying that firing could still be heard hours after the disruption began.

“I have been trying to make the youth withdraw for five hours. I can’t. They are saying [they] have paid with their blood and they do not want to retreat,” said Saad el-Hosseini, a senior Brotherhood politician.

Haddad said police started firing repeated rounds of teargas sometime after 3am local time at the protesters who had spilled out of the main area of the Rabaa sit-in and were on a main thoroughfare near to 6th October Bridge.

“Through the smog of the gas, the bullets started flying,” he said. In addition to “special police forces in black uniforms” firing live rounds, he said that snipers shot from the roofs of a university, buildings in the area, and a bridge.

Haddad said the pro-Morsi supporters had used rocks in an attempt to defend themselves. On the podium outside the Rabaa mosque, a speaker urged people to retreat from the gunfire, but “men stayed to defend themselves because women and children are inside the sit-in”, he said.

Doctors at the field hospital said 75 people had been killed close to the Morsi supporters’ nearly month-old sit-in at the Rabaah al-Adawiyah Mosque in Cairo’s Nasr City.

Update2 [2013-07-28 15:02pm by Oui]:

A must read, my follow-up diary – Classic Agitator: Preacher Safwat Hegazy Inciting Violence In Cairo.

Clashes in Egypt Kill at Least 74 and 748 Injured

(WSJ) July 27, 2013 – In a televised statement hours after the killings, Mr. Ibrahim said police intervened when pro-Morsi protesters moved to block the Sixth of October Bridge. Mr. Ibrahim said the move was instigated by Safwat Al Hegazy, a fiery preacher affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood who has been accused of inciting violence in the past.

“We were surprised when Safwat Al Hegazy asked protesters at the Raba’a stage to head to the 6th October bridge in order to occupy it,” said Mr. Ibrahim. “He has been in Raba’a for about 29 days, nobody has approached or bothered him. But, the fact that he issued this call to gain ground is unacceptable.”

[Salafist preacher Safwat Hegazy received full protection of the Muslim Brothers during Morsi’s reign over Egypt.]

Original diary >>
After Friday prayers, large masses of protesters came out on the streets for a political demonstration. The pro-Morsi protesters started moving toward Tahrir Square to confront the masses of revolutionaries who are pro the new regime and the military leader El-Sisi. Egypt’s security forces were stationed in between the large crowds to keep both camps separated and avoid violence.

The move by the Muslim Brotherhood pro-Morsi protesters initiated the riots by which the security forces reacted with teargas and later had to resort to buckshot and even live fire. Of course, the MB camp at the mosque got their martyrs to demonstrate the “ugly violence” of the military coup d’etat. The wounded and bodies were transported and the numbers grew to ugly proportions after midnight.

El-Sisi, Morsi rallies to face-off Friday

CAIRO (Al-Ahram) – Since Morsi’s ouster, clashes between supporters and opponents of the deposed president have left tens of civilian deaths on both sides. Militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula have carried out daily attacks against security forces, killing at least 20 policemen and soldiers.

Addressing the instability, Egypt’s army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi – the commander behind Morsi’s ouster – called on Egyptians to give the army and the police a mandate to combat “violence and terrorism” via public demonstrations on Friday.

Heeding El-Sisi’s call

Egypt’s main non-Islamist groups have announced their participation in Friday’s protests. Egypt’s National Salvation Front (NSF), a grouping of the major liberal and leftist parties and movements, has called on Egyptians to take to the streets.

“Millions of Egyptians will take to the street to stress their unyielding rejection of bloodshed and terrorism from members of a political current who continue to reject reconciliation,” the NSF wrote in a statement.

The “political current” in question is the Muslim Brotherhood – the group who propelled Morsi to the presidency – and its allies, who have rejected anything less than Morsi’s reinstatement as president.

The NSF accused the Brotherhood of silently regarding the Sinai attacks and the killing of opponents as a “legitimate” means of protesting Morsi’s removal. It insisted that the roadmap setting a framework for parliamentary and presidential elections, put forth by Egypt’s Interim President Adly Mansour, be followed.

Joining the NSF in response to El-Sisi’s request was the ‘Rebel’ (Tamarod) movement, which initiated the anti-Morsi protest campaign that led to his removal from power.

The 30 June Front, a newly established group including some of Rebel’s activists, also called on Egyptians to take part in Friday’s protests. Both the NSF and 30 June said they would protest against “terrorism,” but insisted that the army and police don’t need a mandate to fight civil violence, but rather it is their duty to do so.

Responding to El-Sisi’s statement, the Anti-Coup Pro-Democracy Alliance headed by the Muslim Brotherhood accused him of issuing an “explicit call for civil war.”