Street battles leave 51 dead and scores injured on Egypt's national holiday

 
Fresh fighting: A riot police officer fires rubber bullets at Muslim Brotherhood supporters near Tahrir Square
Bo Wilson7 October 2013

Fresh clashes in Egypt between police and supporters of the ousted president Mohammed Morsi have left 51 dead and scores injured.

The violence broke out after a national holiday celebrating the military descended into chaos as crowds from Egypt’s two rival camps poured into the streets and turned on each other.

Fresh fighting: A riot police officer fires rubber bullets at Muslim Brotherhood supporters near Tahrir Square (Picture: Reuters)

More than 200 members of Mr Morsi’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement were arrested in Cairo on Sunday, where most of the deaths were reported.

Neighbourhoods resembled combat zones as street battles raged for hours.

Mr Morsi’s supporters fired birdshot and threw firebombs at police who responded with gunshots and tear gas.

Streets were left strewn with debris, and the air was thick with tear gas and smoke from burning fires.

Deadly clashes: relatives mourn a pro-Morsi supporter, killed during fighting with security forces (Picture: AP/Hassan Ammar)
AP/Hassan Ammar

It was the highest death toll in a single day in violence in Egypt since August, when security forces raided two sit-in protest camps by Mr Morsi’s supporters in Cairo.

Despite the fighting continuing in the streets, the military carried on its celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1973 war with Israel.

Last night, a concert was aired live on state TV from a military-run Cairo stadium that was attended by the interim president Adly Mansour and the military chief General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

“There are those who think the military can be broken,” General el-Sissi said in an address at the concert. “You see the Pyramids? The military is like the pyramids, because the Egyptian people are on its side.”

The street battles were the latest chapter in the turmoil roiling Egypt since the ouster in February 2011 of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The new violence is certain to set back efforts by the interim, military-backed government to revive the economy, especially the vital tourism sector, and bring order to the streets of Cairo, where crime and lawlessness have been rife.

Protestors turn out in London

Outspoken protest: Pro-Morsi supporters arrived opposite the Egyptian embassy to denounce the massacre of Muslim Brotherhood supporters (Picture: Peter Marshall/Demotix)
Peter Marshall / Demotix

Dozens of people joined a protest yesterday at the Egyptian embassy in central London yesterday demonstrating against the military takeover.

The rally, organised by British Egyptians 4 Democracy (BE4D), saw protestors chanting slogans and bearing placards.

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