Egypt Protests: Muslim Brotherhood Says 35 Supporters Killed During Cairo Demonstration

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By Tom Perry and Alexander Dziadosz

CAIRO, July 8 (Reuters) - At least 42 people were killed on Monday when Islamist demonstrators enraged by the military overthrow of Egypt's elected President Mohamed Mursi said the army opened fire during morning prayers at the Cairo barracks where he is being held.

But the military said "a terrorist group" tried to storm the Republican Guard compound and one army officer had been killed and 40 wounded. Soldiers returned fire when they were attacked by armed assailants, a military source said.

The emergency services said more than 320 were wounded in a sharp escalation of Egypt's political crisis, and Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood urged people to rise up against the army, which they accuse of a military coup to remove the elected leader.

At a hospital near the Rabaa Adawia mosque where Islamists have camped out since Mursi was toppled on Wednesday, rooms were crammed with people wounded in the violence, sheets were stained with blood and medics rushed to attend to the wounded.

As an immediate consequence, the ultra-conservative Islamist Nour party, which initially backed the military intervention, said it was withdrawing from stalled negotiations to form an interim government for the transition to fresh elections.

The military has said that the overthrow was not a coup, and it was enforcing the will of the people after millions took to the streets on June 30 to call for his resignation.

But pro- and anti-Mursi protests took place in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities, and resulted in clashes on Friday and Saturday that left 35 dead.

It leaves the Arab world's largest nation of 84 million people in a perilous state, with the risk of further enmity between people on either side of the political divide while an economic crisis deepens.

SHOTS DURING PRAYERS

Abdelaziz Abdelshakua, from Sharqia Province northeast of Cairo, was wounded in his right leg with what he says was a live round.

"We were praying the dawn prayer and we heard there was shooting," he said, adding an army officer assured them no one was shooting, then suddenly they came under fire from the direction of the Republican Guard.

"They shot us with teargas, birdshot, rubber bullets -- everything. Then they used live bullets."

A Reuters journalist at the scene saw first aid helpers attempting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a dying man.

Al Jazeera's Egypt channel showed footage from inside a makeshift clinic near the scene of the violence, where Mursi supporters attempted to treat bloodied men.

Seven dead bodies were lined up in a row, covered in blankets and an Egyptian flag. A man placed a portrait of Mursi on one of the corpses.

Footage broadcast by state TV showed Mursi supporters throwing rocks at soldiers in riot gear on one of the main roads leading to Cairo airport.

Young men, some carrying sticks, crouched behind a building, emerging to throw petrol bombs before retreating again.

State-run television showed soldiers carrying a wounded comrade along a rock-strewn road, and news footage zoomed in on a handful of protesters firing crude handguns during clashes.

The rest of the city was for the most part calm, though armoured military vehicles closed bridges over the Nile to traffic following the violence.

The military overthrew Morsi on Wednesday after mass nationwide demonstrations led by youth activists demanding his resignation. The Brotherhood denounced the intervention as a coup and vowed peaceful resistance.

POLITICAL IMPASSE

Talks on forming a new government were already in trouble before Monday's shooting, after the Nour Party rejected two liberal-minded candidates for prime minister proposed by interim head of state Adli Mansour.

Nour, Egypt's second biggest Islamist party, which is vital to give the new authorities a veneer of Islamist backing, said it had withdrawn from the negotiations in protest at what it called the "massacre at the Republican Guard (compound)".

"The party decided the complete withdrawal from political participation in what is known as the road map," it said.

The military can ill afford a lengthy political vacuum at a time of violent upheaval and economic stagnation.

Scenes of running street battles between pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators in Cairo, Alexandria and cities across the country have alarmed Egypt's allies, including key aid donors the United States and Europe, and Israel, with which Egypt has had a U.S.-backed peace treaty since 1979.

The violence has also shocked Egyptians, growing tired of the turmoil that began two-and-a-half years ago with the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising.

In one of the most shocking scenes of the last week, video footage circulated on social and state media of what appeared to be Mursi supporters throwing two youths from a concrete tower on to a roof in the port city of Alexandria.

The images, stills from which were published on the front page of the state-run Al-Akhbar newspaper on Sunday, could not be independently verified.

On Sunday, huge crowds numbering hundreds of thousands gathered in different parts of Cairo and were peaceful, but nonetheless a reminder of the risks of further instability.

BITTER BLOW

For many Islamists, the overthrow of Egypt's first freely elected president was a bitter reversal that raised fears of a return to the suppression they endured for decades under autocratic rulers like Mubarak.

On the other side of the political divide, millions of Egyptians were happy to see the back of a leader they believed was orchestrating a creeping Islamist takeover of the state - a charge the Brotherhood has vehemently denied.

Washington has not condemned the military takeover or called it a coup, prompting suspicion within the Brotherhood that it tacitly supports the overthrow.

Obama has ordered a review to determine whether annual U.S. assistance of $1.5 billion, most of which goes to the Egyptian military, should be cut off as required by law if a country's military ousts a democratically elected leader.

Egypt can ill afford to lose foreign aid. The country appears headed for a looming funding crunch unless it can quickly access money from overseas. The local currency has lost 11 percent of its value since late last year.

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Muslim Brotherhood calls for more protests in Egypt

Supporters of the deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi gather at the Rabaa to the Adweya mosque.

CAIRO: New leadership of Egypt to discuss the appointment of a Prime Minister, now that both the Muslim Brotherhood and their opponents asked new mass demonstrations on Sunday, renewing fears of another round of street violence on the expulsion of the military of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Calls for competition rallies come after clashes two hours ago between the left of factions at least 36 dead and more than 1,000 injured throughout the country.

The military said troops are to reinforce security ahead of the protests and warned against any "provocative action". Any violators will be "treated with decision, under the law," said the spokesman for the army in an official publication of Facebook. In violence on Friday it sided with the crowds of anti-Morsi, and in one case, they opened fire on demonstrators pro-Morsi.

The brotherhood, which helped boost Morsi to power as the first leader democratically elected from Egypt, has denounced the movement of the armed forces as a coup against democracy and demands to be reinstated. Currently, Morsi is stopped with the military, although its location is unknown.

Facebook post on Sunday, said the Supreme Leader of the brotherhood Mohammed Badie, the "unconstitutional coup leaders are still flagrant violations against the Egyptian people".

Since removal Morsi Wednesday night, several of the leading figures of the brotherhood were arrested and TV and the newspaper of the Group station were closed, as three were other Islamist television pro-Morsi. Among those arrested is adjunct Khairat el-Shater Badie, seen as the most powerful figure in the Group and its main decisions.

At the same time, the collection of liberal, secular and youth groups that spearheaded the campaign to oust Morsi, called for a mass demonstration of himself Sunday in the Plaza Cairo's Tahrir to defend the new country, the army-backed interim leadership.

Last week, millions of Egyptians across the country participated in four days of massive protests demanding Morsi be removed, angered by what they saw as the dominance of the brotherhood and Morsi failures to address the worsening of economic problems. When the military overthrew the Morsi, suspended the Constitution drafted by the Islamist and a chief judge is installed as Acting President to form an administration.

But the divisions were stalling the appointment of a Prime Minister and the creation of a new Cabinet. In the transition period - the length of which is unknown - the Prime Minister will have powers to govern, while it is expected that the President is a post largely symbolic.

On Saturday, the Office of interim President Adly Mansour pushed back a decision to nominate the leader Mohamed ElBaradei as Prime Minister after an Islamist party--the ultraconservative Salafi al - Nour - objected.

ElBaradei, a Nobel Laureate in peace during his time as head of United Nations nuclear monitoring, is an inspirational figure among the leftists, groups of secular young revolutionary after the lifting of 2011 that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Word Saturday that was going to be named Prime Minister provoked applause among many of their ranks, believing that it can lead to a strong reform agenda.

But the 71-year-old ElBaradei is deeply distrusted as too secular among many Islamists and much of the public that is seen as elite. The party of al - Nour is one of few Islamic groups to cooperate openly with the new leaders. The match was the second biggest winner in the elections to Parliament for 2011-2012 after the brotherhood.

Mohammed Abul-Ghar, the leader of the Egyptian Socialist Democratic liberal party, said al - Nour initially ElBaradei agreed to take the post, but then changed his position for reasons unknown. He said that the talks are still in progress through mediators.

Abdullah Badran, a legislative leader of al - Nour, said that there was a "misunderstanding" and that it had not agreed to ElBaradei. The party has asked for 48 hours to propose alternatives, said, and added that it will finalize its position but it will not support ElBaradei.

"This sensitive period requires an independent who can win consensus not to cause divisions and polarization", told the Associated Press. "We don't want prejudices because it would only lead to more divisions".

He said that ElBaradei objections are rooted in his lack of popularity not only among the Islamists, but among a large sector of the Egyptians.

Al - Nour was an ally of Morsi but broke with it throughout their year in Office, saying that his Brotherhood was trying to monopolize power, even over other Islamists. When he began the wave of protests by anti-Morsi on June 30, the Party asked his followers to remain neutral. But it supported the intervention of the military to remove the President, in talks with the Chief of Army General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Now it is among a number of groups on the leadership of post-Morsi. Others include the National Salvation Front - a collection of liberal and secular parties including ElBaradei - and Tamarod, or "Rebel", the Group of young people who helped organize the anti-Morsi revolt, as well as a moderate Islamic Group, Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh.

On Saturday, Tamarod described as "blackmail" the Al - Nour ElBaradei objections and had rejected "pressure" by the party.

Called protests to defend the "popular legitimacy" and "confirm the victory achieved in the wave on June 30".

Meanwhile, a Cairo Court on Sunday acquitted 12 prominent activists of charges of inciting violence during protests near the brotherhood headquarters in March.

Among them was prominent blogger Ahmed Douma, who was sentenced to six months in prison in early June in a separate case to call Morsi, a criminal and a murderer in media interviews. He was released on Thursday by the authorities.

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Assad: Ousting Morsi of Egypt means "The fall of political Islam"

BEIRUT--Embattled President of Syria on Wednesday praised the protests in Egypt against their leader and said his overthrow by the military means at the end of "Political Islam".

President Bashar Assad, who is trying to crush a revolt against his own rule, said that Egyptians have discovered the "lies" of the Muslim Brotherhood.

He spoke in an interview with the State newspaper Al - Thawra printed in its entirety on Thursday. Excerpts were published Wednesday night on Facebook from the Presidency of Syria page, coinciding with the announcement of the Egyptian army's overthrow of Morsi.

"What is happening in Egypt is the fall of the so-called political Islam," said Assad. "This is the fate of anyone in the world who attempt to use religion for political interests or factions."

Assad is facing an insurgency in the country and he has refused to resign, calling the rebellion of an international conspiracy led out by Islamic extremists and groups fundamentalists such as the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria, a subsidiary of the Egyptian group with the same name that owns the Morsi.

Earlier Wednesday, Syrian Information Minister Omran al - Zoubi urged Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to resign in line with the wishes of its people.

Al - Zoubi told reporters in Damascus that Muslim Brotherhood Morsi is a "tool of the United States" and a "terrorist" organization.

Morsi last month infuriated officials announcing Syrians was cutting ties with Damascus and close its Embassy in the capital of Syria.

Assad's father, the late President Hafez Assad, repressed a rebellion led by the Muslim Brotherhood in the northern city of Hama in 1982. The Syrian forces, led by the brother of the President and of the special forces of his minority alawite sect, razed much of the city an air of three weeks and the ground, killing attack at between 10,000 and 20,000 people.

"The experience of the ruling of the Muslim Brotherhood failed before even started because it goes against the nature of the people", Assad said in the interview, charging that the brotherhood aims to disseminate the fight in the Arab world.

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Egypt protests: protesters invade, ransack headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo (VIDEO/photos)

The headquarters of the Cairo of Egypt rulers that the Muslim Brotherhood was invaded by young people on Monday. (AP)

CAIRO, July 1 (Reuters) - the headquarters of the Cairo of Egypt statement that Muslim Brotherhood was invaded by youths who looted the building after those inside had been evacuated on Monday after a night of violence.

Security sources said that five people were killed in hours of fighting around the besieged building. Medical sources said that more than 100 wounded. Reuters journalists saw youths throw Molotov cocktails and stones at the offices. Guards inside opened fire.

On the morning of Monday, people inside were still firing at young people outside. Reuters journalists saw two men hit.

A brotherhood spokesman later said that the movement had evacuated staff from within. Live TV pictures showed men inside, throwing the blackened windows computer. One flew an Egyptian flag from a balcony.

(Reporting by asthma Alsharif and Tom Perry;) Edited by Alastair Macdonald)

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