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Dozens of Morsi Supporters Are Killed in Cairo Protest At Least 40 Die as Soldiers Said to Open Fire on Morsi Backers
(about 2 hours later)
CAIRO — Egyptian security officials and members of the Muslim Brotherhood said that more than 40 supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi were killed as violence erupted outside a military officers’ club early Monday where the supporters had been holding a sit-in for days demanding his release from detention. CAIRO — Egyptian soldiers opened fire on hundreds of unarmed supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi early Monday as they were praying before dawn outside the facility where he is believed to be detained, dozens of witnesses said.
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood said the supporters were killed by soldiers and police officers during an “unprovoked” attack during dawn prayers using tear gas and live ammunition. At least 43 civilians were killed, all or most of them shot, and more than 300 wounded, doctors and health officials said. Security officials said one police officer died as well.
Security officials said the death toll stood at 43 civilians and one security officer. They added that more than 300 people had been wounded. The massacre marked a sharp escalation in the confrontation between the generals who forced out the president and his Islamist supporters in the streets.
Al Jazeera broadcast footage of a field hospital run by Mr. Morsi’s supporters, showing what appeared to be several bodies lying on the ground and doctors treating bloodied patients. Army tanks blocked approaches to the officers’ club, as well as another square nearby where the field hospital was located. Dozens of Islamists who had gathered in vigil for Mr. Morsi denied there was any provocation for the attack. Two bystanders who had supported Mr. Morsi’s ouster also said that the demonstrators were unarmed and ran in terror as the attack began.
Witnesses in the area where the shooting took place said they saw Mr. Morsi’s supporters performing the dawn prayers. Shortly afterward, the witnesses said, they heard the sound of heavy automatic weapons and pro-Morsi supporters were seen fleeing frantically, seeking to take cover behind debris on the streets and billboards. Bullet holes in cars, lampposts and corrugated metal barriers indicated that gunfire was coming from the top of a nearby building where the sandbag barriers around makeshift gun turrets were visible. Bullet casings on the ground and collected by Islamist demonstrators bore the label of the Egyptian Army.
It was the second explosion of deadly violence outside the Republican Guard officers’ club since the military intervened on Wednesday to depose Mr. Morsi, following mass protests against his rule. Mr. Morsi’s supporters believe the former president is being held inside the club, and have held rallies at its gates, demanding his release. There were pools of blood on the pavement. Some of the blood and bullet holes were hundreds of yards from the walls of the facility’s guard house, suggesting that the soldiers continued firing as the demonstrators fled.
Ibrahim el-Sheikh, a neighbor, said the police officer, Mohamed el-Mesairy, was killed by military fire. He was hiding in his car in the parking lot of a building in a side street that the Morsi supporters were using for shelter. Mr. Sheikh, who signed a petition and joined protests for Mr. Morsi’s ouster, said he and others carried the officer’s body out of his car. “He did not have a head any more,” he said.
The Nasr City hospital, a few minutes drive from the scene of the shooting, began receiving hundreds of victims around 4 a.m. and at least 40 were dead, according to Bassem al-Sayed, a surgeon. The doctor said all the victims he saw were men with gunshot wounds.
The emergency wards and the intensive care unit were full of patients and distraught relatives. Near the emergency room, two dozen men lined up to donate blood.
Dr. Sayed said he had seen similar scenes in the hospital only once: around January 25, 2011, when Egyptians began their revolt against President Hosni Mubarak.
“This is worse,” he said.
The survivors, who were shot in the head, chest or arms, or who had been hit in the face by birdshot pellets, all told roughly the same story. They were attacked without warning with tear gas and gunfire near the end of morning prayers. Some said that soldiers and police officers attacked from opposite sides. Others said that because of the dark, they were not sure which security branch their attackers belonged to.
“We were praying,” said Mahmoud Gomaa Ahmed, 33, who was wounded in the chest. “Before the prayer, nothing had happened at all,” he said, responding to accusations by military officials that a group of “terrorists” had attacked the Republican Guard officers’ club. “There was no one,” Mr. Ahmed said.
Mahmoud Mabrouk, 42, who was shot in his right arm, said the first rounds were intended to kill. “It wasn’t for the sake of dispersing us,” he said.
It was the second explosion of deadly violence outside the Republican Guard officers’ club since the military intervened on Wednesday to depose Mr. Morsi, following mass protests against his rule. Mr. Morsi’s supporters believe the former president is being held inside the club, and have held rallies and a sit-in at its gates, demanding his release.
The killings came a day after the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies vowed to broaden their protests against the president’s ouster and American diplomats sought to persuade the Islamist group to accept his overthrow, its officials said. But the killings on Monday seemed certain to inject perilous new factors into the country’s fragile political calculus.The killings came a day after the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies vowed to broaden their protests against the president’s ouster and American diplomats sought to persuade the Islamist group to accept his overthrow, its officials said. But the killings on Monday seemed certain to inject perilous new factors into the country’s fragile political calculus.
Continuing a push for accommodation that began before the removal of Mr. Morsi last week, the American diplomats contacted Brotherhood leaders to try to persuade them to re-enter the political process, an Islamist briefed on one of the conversations said on Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.Continuing a push for accommodation that began before the removal of Mr. Morsi last week, the American diplomats contacted Brotherhood leaders to try to persuade them to re-enter the political process, an Islamist briefed on one of the conversations said on Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
“They are asking us to legitimize the coup,” the Islamist said, arguing that accepting the removal of an elected president would be the death of Egyptian democracy. The United States Embassy in Cairo declined to comment.“They are asking us to legitimize the coup,” the Islamist said, arguing that accepting the removal of an elected president would be the death of Egyptian democracy. The United States Embassy in Cairo declined to comment.
“They opened fire on us while we were praying,” said Moataz Abu al-Shakra, a 25-year-old electrical engineer huddled behind sheet of corrugated metal riddled with bullet holes that Mr. Morsi’s supporters had sought to use as a barricade — anticipating only shotgun pellets, not more powerful ammunition. “There were snipers on the roof tops,” he said.
“It is like they were fighting a war between two countries, not like our army or police,” he said. “They are criminals.”
Mohamed Farahat, 38, a teacher, said the soldiers had fired tear gas along with the bullets and rushed out to arrest dozens of fleeing demonstrators as well.
Gomaa Gaber, a 53-year-old mechanic with a large blood stain on his shirt, said he threw himself onto a younger relative, Ali Mohamed Said, 24, to try to protect him. But Mr. Said had already been shot in the chest. “He died in my arms,” he said.
Although by morning some people carried sticks or makeshift clubs, all said that the demonstrators were unarmed. Mr. Sheikh and another neighbor who opposed Mr. Morsi and supported his ouster said the same.
“Our only weapons were bottles of water and prayer rugs,” said Gamal Ali, 37, a teacher.
Even as both sides continued their street demonstrations on Sunday, Egypt’s new leaders continued their effort to form an interim government. Squabbles about a choice for prime minister spilled out into the open on Saturday, exposing splits among the country’s newly ascendant political forces.Even as both sides continued their street demonstrations on Sunday, Egypt’s new leaders continued their effort to form an interim government. Squabbles about a choice for prime minister spilled out into the open on Saturday, exposing splits among the country’s newly ascendant political forces.
State news media quoted a spokesman for Adli Mansour, the interim president, on Sunday as saying there was a “tendency” to name Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize-winning diplomat, as vice president, and a former chair of Egypt’s investment authority, Ziad Bahaa el-Din, as interim prime minister.State news media quoted a spokesman for Adli Mansour, the interim president, on Sunday as saying there was a “tendency” to name Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize-winning diplomat, as vice president, and a former chair of Egypt’s investment authority, Ziad Bahaa el-Din, as interim prime minister.
On Saturday, state news media said Mr. ElBaradei had been chosen as prime minister, but the presidency later backed away from the report after ultraconservatives known as Salafis, who fault Mr. ElBaradei for being too secular, apparently rejected the appointment. It was not clear on Sunday that the Salafi party, Al Nour, was any more inclined to accept Mr. ElBaradei as vice president.On Saturday, state news media said Mr. ElBaradei had been chosen as prime minister, but the presidency later backed away from the report after ultraconservatives known as Salafis, who fault Mr. ElBaradei for being too secular, apparently rejected the appointment. It was not clear on Sunday that the Salafi party, Al Nour, was any more inclined to accept Mr. ElBaradei as vice president.
Mr. Bahaa el-Din, a lawyer who served in the investment authority and on the board of the Central Bank under former President Hosni Mubarak, was abroad and was considering the request, according to a spokesman for his political party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party.Mr. Bahaa el-Din, a lawyer who served in the investment authority and on the board of the Central Bank under former President Hosni Mubarak, was abroad and was considering the request, according to a spokesman for his political party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party.
The lack of agreement means that Egypt has been without a fully functioning government since Wednesday, when the defense minister, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, announced that Mr. Morsi had been deposed.The lack of agreement means that Egypt has been without a fully functioning government since Wednesday, when the defense minister, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, announced that Mr. Morsi had been deposed.
The power vacuum has left confusion about who is responsible for making decisions in the interim, and in particular for law enforcement. Over the past few days, the authorities have arrested Muslim Brotherhood officials and shut down television stations, including Islamist channels, though it is not clear on whose orders the security services were acting.
On Sunday, Al Jazeera reported that prosecutors had interrogated its Cairo bureau chief, Abdel Fattah Fayed, for hours before releasing him on bail.
Al Jazeera’s Web site said Mr. Fayed, who had turned himself in, was charged with running an unlicensed satellite channel and “transmitting news that could compromise Egypt’s national security.” On Wednesday, as part of what appeared to be a coordinated sweep against news media outlets seen as sympathetic to Mr. Morsi, security officials raided the offices of Al Jazeera’s local Cairo station and several other channels.
Since then, thousands of Islamists have held a vigil for Mr. Morsi at their new base in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, and in recent days outside the officers’ club of the Republican Guard, where some believed Mr. Morsi was being held.
Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that nominated Mr. Morsi for president, have sought to convince the world that his removal was both illegal and untenable. They now say they intend to escalate their demonstrations across Egypt.
In the square, Brotherhood officials pledged that their growing protests would force the military to release Mr. Morsi, insisting that no one else would negotiate on their behalf. “I think the military has to yield; they won’t have any choice,” said Gehad el-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman.
“We are stepping it up every few days, with protests around the country,” Mr. Haddad said. “We are logistically capable of carrying this on for months.”
He said the protests themselves would turn into gathering places for the observation of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when it begins this week.
To bolster its claims to legitimacy, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, the Freedom and Justice Party, sent out an e-mail to reporters with mathematical calculations that it said indicated about five million supporters had gathered in the area.
At the same time, supporters of the military takeover redoubled their efforts to gain international support for Mr. Morsi’s ouster. Several current and former Egyptian officials appeared on American talk shows on Sunday to argue that the military seizure of power did not constitute a military coup d'état, which under United States law would require an automatic cutoff of $1.5 billion in annual aid.
“The military had the choice between intervention and chaos, and they had to respond to that,” Nabil Fahmy, a former Egyptian ambassador to the United States, said on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.”
In Cairo, hundreds of thousands of Mr. Morsi’s opponents gathered in Tahrir Square and outside the presidential palace, in what protesters said was an effort to counter claims to legitimacy made by the deposed president’s supporters.
In a mirror image of the pro-Morsi protests, many at the gathering seemed far less interested in swaying the Islamists than proving, to both Egyptians and the world, that their numbers were greater.
And several protesters said they were there to thank the army for its role in removing Mr. Morsi. Many in the crowd held portraits of General Sisi or banners praising the military. Jets and helicopters that flew overhead gave the demonstration the feel of a ticker-tape, postwar rally.
But in an alley near the square, a group of young protesters talked about the toll of Egypt’s conflict, still far from over. They were longtime activists, and all had friends who had died in protests during Egypt’s transition. Now, their conversations with friends in the Muslim Brotherhood had become arguments.
Mai Mandour, a 23-year-old law student, said her brother had told her that Islamist neighbors had started shaving their beards. “Everyone’s worried about a civil war,” she said.

Mayy El Sheikh and Asmaa Al Zohairy contributed reporting.

Mayy El Sheikh and Asmaa Al Zohairy contributed reporting.