Tens of thousands of supporters of ousted president Mohammad Mursi gathered Friday vowing to keep fighting for his reinstatement, as rival rallies defending his overthrow underlined Egypt’s bitter divisions
Tens of thousands of supporters of ousted president Mohammad Mursi gathered Friday vowing to keep fighting for his reinstatement, as rival rallies defending his overthrow underlined Egypt's bitter divisions.
Carrying Egyptian flags and Holy Quran books, protesters assembled outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo's Nasr City neighbourhood, chanting against the military and pledging allegiance to Morsi.
"We are ready to keep protesting for months and years till the president Mohammad Mursi comes back," hhe influential Muslim Brotherhood leader Safwat Hegazi told the crowd.
Hegazi also demanded the reinstatement of Mursi, parliamentary elections, and a committee to oversee a plan for national reconciliation.
Mursi supporters further set up a field kitchen to prepare food for the fasting protestors, aiming at nocturnal protests.
They also massed outside the University of Cairo, watched over by a heavy security presence.
On the other hand, several dozens of anti-Morsi demonstrators gathered under a scorching midday sun in Tahrir Square, adamant that their numbers would rise later.
They also called for huge rallies in Tahrir Square and at the Ittihadiya presidential palace, with a mass iftar (Ramadan evening meal) planned at sundown.
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"It is because of the heat and Ramadan, when we have a fast. During the day, people stay at home but this evening, people will come to Tahrir," a protestor said.
Supporters and opponents of Egypt’s ousted president Mohammad Mursi had already vowed to take to streets in the first Friday of Ramadan holy month, as tensions in the country rose after the army’s overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood’s president.
The military's overthrow of Mursi last week after millions took to the streets demanding his resignation has sparked deadly clashes and deepened divisions in the Arab world's most populous country.
In the worst incident, clashes around an army building on Monday left 53 people dead, mostly Mursi supporters.
In the restive Sinai peninsula, a Coptic Christian man was found decapitated on Thursday five days after gunmen kidnapped him, security officials and witnesses told AFP.
Police were hunting the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, Mohammed Badie, after a warrant was issued for his arrest on Wednesday.
