A deadly gunfight erupted in Cairo on Friday after thousands of supporters of ousted President Mohammad Mursi took to streets in what they called “Day of rejection” to protest the army’s decision to overthrow Mursi.
A deadly gunfight erupted in Cairo on Friday after thousands of supporters of ousted President Mohammad Mursi took to streets in what they called “Day of rejection” to protest the army’s decision to overthrow Mursi.
AFP reported that at least three people were killed and many others wounded as shooting broke out after thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters approached the Republican Guard headquarters chanting "traitors" and "Mursi is our president".
The bodies of two people were covered with sheets and another protester was shot in the head and fell to the ground, parts of his brain spilling from his skull, AFP added.
Ahead of the rallies, around a dozen low-flying military jets screeched across Cairo, a day after they staged a parade leavin
g a trail of smoke in the shape of a heart in the sky.
A Brotherhood statement read to supporters near the Rabia al-Adawiya mosque in eastern Cairo said: "We declare our complete rejection of the military coup staged against the elected president and the will of the nation. We refuse to participate in any activities with the usurping authorities."
The military has deployed armored vehicles and set up road blocks in the streets leading up to the mosque.
Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said before the protest: "We are being headhunted all over the country. We are holding a mass rally after Friday prayers to take all peaceful steps necessary to bring down this coup." He called for demonstrations to be peaceful, despite fears that anger may spill over into violence.
"May God bring Mursi back to power," and "May God end the rift between us and the army," the imam leading the prayer told worshippers at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
With thousands of Mursi supporters camped outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque encircled by military vehicles, the call for demonstrations raised fears of fresh violence after days of bloodshed.
The military said it supported the right to peaceful protest, but warned against violence and acts of civil disobedience such as blocking roads.
The army warned Egyptians against resorting to "exceptional and autocratic measures against any political group".
"The armed forces believe that the forgiving nature and manners of the Egyptian people, and the eternal values of Islam, do not allow us to turn to revenge and gloating," added the army, even as security forces rounded up top Muslim Brotherhood officials.
The Brotherhood accuse the military of conducting a brazen coup against Mursi, Egypt's first democratically elected but divisive president, following massive protests calling for his ouster.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Mursi's overthrow on Wednesday night, citing his inability to end a deepening political crisis, as dozens of armored personnel carriers streamed onto the streets of the capital.
Military police have since arrested Brotherhood supreme leader Mohammed Badie "for inciting the killing of protesters", a security official told AFP.
Former supreme guide Mahdi Akef was also arrested, state television reported.
