New Morsi protests start in Egypt

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 16 Agustus 2013 | 19.13

16 August 2013 Last updated at 08:03 ET
Mourners in Cairo

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The BBC's Jeremy Bowen spoke to families mourning their dead

Thousands of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have started fresh protests in the capital, Cairo, amid fears of further clashes.

Security forces are reported to have blocked off the focal point of their demonstrations, central Ramses Square.

The protests take place two days after Muslim Brotherhood camps in Cairo were broken up with the loss of at least 638 lives.

Police have been authorised to use live ammunition in self-defence.

With a state of emergency still in force, BBC journalists in Ramses Square described the atmosphere as tense.

Hundreds of people gathered at a nearby mosque after the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Mr Morsi, appealed to its supporters to demonstrate after Friday prayers in a "march of anger".

The demonstrations are taking place under the slogan "the people want to topple the coup" - referring to the military's removal of Mr Morsi on 3 July.

His supporters have been urged to converge on Ramses Square from a number of mosques throughout the city.

Security in the capital is tight, with many armoured personnel carriers on the streets.

Entrances to Tahrir Square, the focus of demonstrations that led to the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, were also reported to have been blocked off by the army.

State TV said the military was deploying to protect "important and vital facilities".

Members of groups opposed to Mr Morsi - the National Salvation Front and Tamarod - are reported to have called for counter-demonstrations in response to the Muslim Brotherhood protests.

There have also been calls for people to protect their neighbourhoods and churches throughout the country.

Burned out fire engine

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Shaimaa Khalil reports from Cairo suburb Giza where firefighters attending a blaze were attacked on Thursday

Egypt's Coptic Christian community has been targeted by some Islamists who accuse the Church of backing the army's overthrow of Mr Morsi last month.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an NGO, says 25 churches, along with private homes and businesses belonging to Copts and other Christian denominations, were attacked on Wednesday and Thursday.

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At the scene

Ahmed Maher BBC Arabic, Alexandria


Alexandria, a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, appears largely quiet. The authorities in Egypt's second city have cleared piles of sandbags, barricades and a tent camp set up by Mr Morsi's followers and sympathizers in the past few weeks outside the main pro-Morsi rallying point, Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque.

Many shops and malls remain closed despite the end of the nightly 12-hour curfew imposed here and in 13 more cities. At night, the city's streets look virtually empty as the authorities have further applied emergency laws and authorised the use of live ammunition if vital security and military posts come under attack.

Unlike other curfews in the past two and a half years, there is no defiance from the general public. However, vigilante groups have been formed in several neighbourhoods to protect private property including houses and cars.

The city has been at the heart of the political turmoil gripping the country since the removal of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

There are fears of renewed bloodshed after authorities said the police were entitled to use live ammunition to protect themselves and key state institutions from attack.

Reports say there were renewed attacks on security forces on Thursday, with at least seven soldiers and a policeman killed in the Sinai peninsula and another police officer killed in the central city of Assiut.

US Republican Senator John McCain told BBC Newsnight that the ousting of President Morsi was a "coup" and President Obama should have cut off aid to Egypt as a result.

The US has been careful not to use the word coup as under US law this would mean stopping aid.

"I am confused that we would not enforce our own laws," he said.

"That sends a message of tolerance of brutality, of ineffective American leadership to the Muslim world, that the United States of America at least condones this kind of behaviour, which we cannot."

'Maximum restraint'
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Washington's recent diplomatic efforts in Egypt have failed one after the other"

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Meanwhile, Egypt's interim leaders have criticised remarks by President Barack Obama on Thursday.

On Thursday, Mr Obama condemned the government's actions in ordering security forces to break up the protest camps, and cancelled joint military exercises.

He said co-operation could not continue while civilians were being killed. However, he stopped short of cutting $1.3bn (£830m) in aid that the US gives to Egypt.

The Egyptian presidency said in a statement in the early hours of Friday that Mr Obama's words were "not based on fact" and would "embolden armed groups".

It said Egypt was facing "terrorist acts".

Wednesday's bloodshed has drawn widespread international condemnation.

Late on Thursday, the UN Security Council met in emergency session at the request of France, Britain and Australia.

Senator John McCain

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US Senator John McCain: "The law is very clear that if there is a coup aid is cut off"

Following the meeting, Argentina's ambassador to the UN, Maria Cristina Perceval, said the Council called for the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood to exercise "maximum restraint" and to end the violence.

Turkey, which described Wednesday's events as a "massacre", has recalled its ambassador to Cairo "to discuss the latest developments".

On Friday, the German government warned that further clashes "could plunge Egypt into a chaos of violence and counter-violence and further escalation".

It called for dialogue between the opposing parties, and also widened a travel alert for German citizens, advising them to stay away from the whole of Egypt.

Wednesday's violence began when armoured bulldozers moved into the two Cairo protest camps.

The smaller of the two camps, at Nahda Square, was cleared quickly but clashes raged for several hours in and around the main encampment near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. The mosque was badly damaged by fire.

Egyptian interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi said the authorities had to restore security.

Mr Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, is in custody accused of murder over a 2011 jailbreak. His period of detention was extended by 30 days on Thursday, state media said.

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