Morsi supporters stay defiant
A general view shows brick barricades erected along Nasr City's main street, a district of eastern Cairo, as supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi continue to hold a sit in outside Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque demanding his reinstatement yesterday. PHOTO: AFP
Supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi yesterday pledged to press ahead with their protests, a day after bloody clashes at a Cairo sit-in killed at least 72 people.
Sporadic violence was reported in several towns early yesterday, with two dead in separate incidents.
Saturday's violence drew international and domestic condemnation, including from Washington, a key backer of Egypt's army.
Following the clashes near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque where Morsi loyalists have been camped for weeks, the interior minister pledged to disperse the protests "soon".
But the violence and the warning did not appear to have thinned the ranks at the Cairo demonstration, where a core group of several thousand protesters remained.
And Gehad El-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said demonstrators were angry but "hugely defiant" after Saturday's deaths.
"For us, if we die, we meet our creator and we did so for a just cause... Either we die or we succeed," he told AFP.
At Rabaa al-Adawiya, hundreds of protesters at a time staged mini demonstrations to keep the mood buoyant.
The violence early on Saturday was the bloodiest incident since Morsi's July 3 ouster following huge demonstrations against his rule.
An Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood member searches a man at a makeshift brick barricade erected there. PHOTO: AFP
The health ministry said 72 people were killed in Cairo on Saturday, along with nine dead in second city Alexandria a day earlier.
Medics in a Brotherhood field hospital there earlier Saturday had put the death toll at 66, with another 61 on life support and thousands more wounded.
Morsi supporters on Saturday accused security forces of using live fire against unarmed protesters, but the interior ministry insisted that its forces had fired only tear gas.
He also accused thugs for the bloodsheds.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, speaking at a police graduation ceremony yesterday, sounded a firm line.
"We will not allow any mercenary or person bearing a grudge to try to disrupt the atmosphere of unity, and we will confront them with the greatest of force and firmness," he said.
The violence prompted international condemnation, with Human Rights Watch accusing Egyptian authorities of "criminal disregard for people's lives".
US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose country contributes hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic aid to Egypt, expressed Washington's "deep concern".
In a statement, Kerry called on the authorities to "respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression".
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced what he described as massacres.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged the authorities to "cease the use of violence against protesters, including live fire, and to hold to account those responsible".
The violence also prompted domestic criticism, with Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a former opposition activist who joined the transitional government, denouncing "excessive use of force" by the authorities.
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