Clashes across Egypt kill 51, more protests called

Cairo: At least 51 people were killed in clashes in Egyptian cities on Sunday, security sources said, after opponents and supporters of deposed president Mohamad Morsi took to the streets in one of the bloodiest days since the army seized power. In a sign of more possible violence to come, an alliance including Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood urged Egyptians to protest from Tuesday and gather on Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, declaring: "No one will stop us from (Tahrir) no matter what the sacrifices". Egypt has been gripped by turmoil since the army ousted Morsi on July 3 after mass protests against his rule, prompting his Muslim Brotherhood to demonstrate in the streets. On August 14, the military-backed authorities smashed two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo, with hundreds of deaths, and then declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew. Many of the Brotherhood's leaders have been arrested since. At Ibn Sina hospital in the Mohandiseen district of Cairo, a Reuters reporter saw eight bodies shrouded in blue and white sheets among pools of blood. "The Interior Ministry and the army killed my son," screamed Sabah el-Sayed, mother of Rami Imam, 29, stroking his leg. Imam's father said his son had been heading home from work when he got caught up in the clashes. Abdelrahman al-Tantawi, a medic who brought Imam to the hospital, said he had seen police and army firing from a bridge at pro-Brotherhood demonstrators. He said Imam had a bullet wound in his back. Reuters could not independently verify that account. Authorities had warned on Saturday that anyone who protested against the army during ceremonies marking the anniversary of an attack on Israeli forces during the 1973 war would be regarded as an agent of foreign powers, not an activist. The Interior Ministry, which said it had arrested 423 people, described the clashes as an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to "ruin the celebrations and cause friction with the masses". Scores of people were reported wounded. In a speech at a late night ceremony, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the man who toppled Morsi, said: There are a lot of people who think Egypt's army can be broken. Egypt's army is like a pyramid but it is a pyramid because the people of Egypt support it." Protesters had been heading towards Tahrir Square, the rallying point for the popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, security sources said. The military often accuses the Brotherhood of inciting violence during protests, accusations it denies. The state news agency reported that during clashes in the Nile Delta province of Qulubiya, authorities arrested 25 members of the Brotherhood who had 51 hand grenades. A Brotherhood member was killed and at least two were wounded when marchers clashed with police in the town of Delga, 300 km (190 miles) south of Cairo, security and medical sources said.