CAIRO (AP) --
Heavy gunfire rang out Friday throughout Cairo as tens of thousands of
Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed with armed vigilantes in the
fiercest street battles to engulf the capital since the country's Arab
Spring uprising. At least 60 people were killed in the fighting
nationwide, including eight police officers.
Carrying
pistols and assault rifles, residents battled with protesters taking
part in what the Brotherhood called the "Day of Rage," ignited by anger
at security forces for clearing two sit-in demonstrations Wednesday in
clashes that killed more than 600 people.
As
military helicopters circled overhead, residents furious with the
Brotherhood protesters pelted them with rocks and glass bottles. The two
sides also fired on one another, sparking running street battles.
The
Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, called on supporters of the country's
ousted Islamist president to stage protests on a daily basis, raising
fears of continued violence.
Unlike in past
clashes between protesters and police, Friday's clashes took an even
darker turn when residents and possibly police in civilian clothing
engaged in the violence. There were few police in uniform to be seen as
residents fired at one another on a bridge that crosses over Cairo's
Zamalek district, an upscale island neighborhood where many foreigners
and ambassadors reside.
The Brotherhood-led
marches in Cairo headed toward Ramses Square, near the country's main
train station. The area is also near Tahrir Square, where the army put
up barbed wire and tanks as a buffer between the protesters and a small
anti-Brotherhood encampment in the square.
At
least 12 people were killed in Ramses Square after protesters clashed
with residents in the area, security officials said. Associated Press
photographers saw many of the dead inside the nearby Al-Fath mosque,
which had turned into a field hospital. Some appeared to have been shot
in the head and chest during an attack on a police station.
The
upper floors of a commercial building towering over Ramses Square
caught fire later in the day, with flames engulfing it for hours. It was
not immediately clear what caused the fire at the building housing the
Arab Contractors' construction company, but no injuries were reported.
Across
the country, at least 52 civilians were killed in the clashes, along
with eight police officers, security officials said. They spoke on
condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The
violence erupted shortly after midday weekly prayers when tens of
thousands of Brotherhood supporters answered the group's call to protest
across Egypt in defiance of a military-imposed state of emergency
following the bloodshed earlier this week.
Armed
civilians manned impromptu checkpoints throughout the capital, banning
Brotherhood marches from approaching and frisking anyone wanting to pass
through. At one checkpoint, residents barred ambulances and cars
carrying wounded from the Ramses Square clashes from reaching a
hospital.
The scenes highlighted how deep
divisions in Egypt have become. At least eight police stations were
attacked Friday, officials said. Egypt's police force was rocked by the
country's 2011 uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak from
power and has not fully recovered since.
On
Thursday, the Interior Ministry said it had authorized the use of deadly
force against anyone targeting police and state institutions. But the
threat appeared not to intimidate protesters.
Tawfik Dessouki, a Brotherhood supporter, said he was ready to fight for "democracy" and against the military's ouster of Morsi.
"I
am here for the blood of the people who died. We didn't have a
revolution to go back to a police and military state again and to be
killed by the state," he said.
Also Friday,
security officials said assailants detonated explosives on train tracks
between Alexandria and the western Mediterranean Sea province of Marsa
Matrouh. There were no injuries and no trains were damaged from the
attack, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with
regulations.
Egypt, the Arab world's most
populous nation, has been in turmoil since Morsi was removed from power
by the military on July 3, following days of mass protests against him
and his Brotherhood group. But Morsi's supporters have remained defiant,
demanding the coup be overturned. The international community has urged
both sides in Egypt to show restraint and end the turmoil engulfing the
nation.
On Wednesday, riot police backed by
armored vehicles and bulldozers cleared two sprawling encampments of
Morsi supporters, sparking clashes that killed at least 638 people.
The
Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, said in a
statement Friday that the group is not backing down and "will continue
to mobilize people to take to the streets without resorting to violence
and without vandalism."
"The struggle to
overthrow this illegitimate regime is an obligation, an Islamic,
national, moral and human obligation which we will not steer away from
until justice and freedom prevail, and until repression is conquered,"
the statement said.
The group said in another statement that its protests were peaceful.
The revolutionary and liberal groups that helped topple Morsi have largely stayed away from street rallies in recent weeks.
Meanwhile,
state-run and private television stations have been broadcasting
footage from Wednesday's violence they say shows armed men firing toward
security forces. Graphic videos have emerged online portraying the
violence from the protesters' side.
One video,
authenticated by The Associated Press based on landmarks and reporting
from Wednesday's crackdown, shows armored personnel carriers driving
protesters back from an area near the main sit-in as continuous volleys
of automatic gunfire rang out.
In the footage,
the crowd was shown retreating after throwing stones at the approaching
vehicles, leaving several bloodied men motionless on the ground. After a
loudspeaker announcement instructed the crowd to evacuate, promising
safe passage, a vehicle approached and the barrel of a weapon emerged
from one of its gun ports.
---
Associated Press writer Mariam Rizk contributed to this report.
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