Egypt’s interior minister has pledged that protests calling for the reinstatement of ousted President Muhammad Mursi would be dispersed “soon.”
Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Mohamed Ibrahim said security forces would act “in a legal fashion” to disperse the demonstrations “as soon as possible.”
Mursi, who has been accused of murder and other crimes, is likely to be transferred to the same Cairo prison where former leader Hosni Mubarak is now held, he said.
The grand imam of Al-Azhar condemned the death of dozens of Mursi supporters and called for an investigation into the incident.
Muslim Brotherhood said on Saturday that at least 66 people had been killed in Cairo on Saturday morning, adding that 61 were “clinically dead” without giving further details
Al Jazeera said doctors at the field hospital in Nasr City, where the pro-Mursi supporters have been gathering at the Rabaah Al-Adawiyah Mosque for nearly a month, have put the number as high as 120.
Witnesses say police and “thugs” fired live rounds and birdshot at the pro-Mursi protesters who marched out from their sit-in around the mosque. “They were all shot with live rounds,” said Amal Ahmed Ibrahim, a doctor at the field hospital.
Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei strongly condemned the “excessive use of force.” “I strongly condemn the excessive use of force and the deaths, and I am working hard and in every direction to end the confrontation in a peaceful way, God protect Egypt and have mercy on the victims,” he said on his Twitter account.
Mursi camp warned after Cairo slaughter
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