At least 10 people were killed and hundreds wounded yesterday as outraged supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi tried to storm police lines to free him and fought pitched battles with anti-Morsi activists on Cairo streets.
The “Friday of Rejection,” called by a wide range of Islamist groups, erupted into fierce fighting — with stones, birdshot and Molotov cocktails — that was as violent as the mayhem when dictator Hosni Mubarak was brought down two years ago.
As night fell, thousands of pro- and anti-Morsi fighters clashed on Cairo’s October 6th Bridge as the Islamists tried to battle their way across the Nile River into the heart of the city and confront supporters of the new regime at Tahrir Square.
Witnesses said there were no troops or police involved there. “We are not taking sides,” said army spokesman Col. Ahmed Ali. Earlier, four people were killed when troops opened fire on supporters who were marching on the Republican Guard building in Cairo where Morsi was being held.
Also, unidentified gunmen killed five Egyptian policemen guarding a government building in the northern Sinai town of El Arish after a soldier was killed in the region.
But the center of violence was Cairo, where the “supreme leader” of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood delivered a fiery speech in the Nasr City neighborhood, vowing to occupy parts of the capital until Morsi is returned to power.
“We will sacrifice ourselves, our souls and our blood for President Morsi,” said Mohamed Badie, who refuted reports that he was under arrest for murder.
While chaos ruled the streets, the army-backed interim president, Adly Mansour, issued an order to dissolve the Islamist-dominated upper house of the Egyptian parliament.
New details also emerged yesterday about what led up to the army’s ousting of Morsi Wednesday night after days of anti-government protests paralyzed the world’s largest Arab nation.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood said they had been warned well in advance that the army would eventually give Morsi an ultimatum to end the chaos — and that he would not back down.
“We knew it was over on June 23. Western ambassadors told us that,” a Brotherhood spokesman said.
US Ambassador Anne Patterson, who has been a lightning rod for criticism from pro- and anti-Morsi activists, was one of those envoys.
The deteriorating situation came to a head Monday when armed forces chief Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi told Morsi it was time to step down.
“Over my dead body!” Morsi replied.