Seven people were killed and more than 260 wounded when
Islamist supporters of Mohammad Mursi fought opponents of the deposed Egyptian
president and security forces, marking a return of violence that overshadowed
the naming of an interim cabinet.
Egyptian authorities rounded up more than 400 people over
the fighting which raged through the night into Tuesday, nearly two weeks after
the army removed Mursi in response to mass demonstrations against him.
Interim Prime Minister Hazem Al Beblawi is forming a
government to lead Egypt through a “road map” to restore full civilian rule and
to tackle a chaotic economy.
A spokesman for the interim president said Mursi’s Muslim
Brotherhood had been offered cabinet posts and would participate in the
transition. The Brotherhood dismissed the remarks as lies, saying it would
never yield its demand for Mursi’s return.
Mursi’s removal has bitterly divided Egypt, with thousands
of his supporters maintaining a vigil in a Cairo square to demand his return,
swelling to tens of thousands for mass demonstrations every few days.
Two people were killed at a bridge in central Cairo where
police and local Mursi opponents clashed with some of his supporters who were
blocking a route across the River Nile overnight. Another five were killed in
the Cairo district of Giza, said the head of emergency services, Mohamed
Sultan.
Mursi is being held incommunicado at an undisclosed
location. He has not been charged with any crime but the authorities say they
are investigating him over complaints of inciting violence, spying and wrecking
the economy.
A week of relative calm had suggested peace might be
returning, but that was shattered by the street battles into the early hours of
Tuesday morning, the bloodiest since more than 50 Mursi supporters were killed
a week ago.
“We were crouched on the ground, we were praying. Suddenly
there was shouting. We looked up and the police were on the bridge firing tear
gas down on us,” said pro-Mursi protester Adel Asman, 42, who was coughing,
spitting and pouring Pepsi on his eyes to ease the effect of tear gas.
The new cabinet is mainly made up of technocrats and
liberals, with an emphasis on resurrecting an economy wrecked by two and a half
years of turmoil.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have promised a total of
$12 billion in cash, loans and fuel.
Investors do not expect major reforms before a permanent
government is put in place.
The new planning minister, Ashraf Al Arabi, said on Monday
that the Arab money would sustain Egypt through its transition and it did not
need to restart talks with the International Monetary Fund on a stalled
emergency loan.
Ahmed Al Moslmany, spokesman for interim President Adli
Mansour, said the authorities expected the Brotherhood and other Islamists to
agree to participate in national reconciliation and had offered them positions
in the interim cabinet.
“I am hoping and expecting, and I am in contact with members
from the Muslim Brotherhood, and I can see there is an acceptance to the idea,”
he said.
But senior Brotherhood figure Mohamed Al Beltaji said the
movement had not been offered posts, and would reject them if it had. “We will
not see reconciliation unless it’s on the basis of ending the military coup,”
Beltaji said at a square near a Cairo mosque where thousands of Mursi
supporters have maintained a vigil into its third week.
At Tahrir Square, rallying point for anti-Mursi protesters,
a Reuters reporter saw teenagers in civilian T-shirts being handed rifles by
troops in an armoured vehicle. It was not clear if they were civilians or
security personnel in plain clothes.
The violence took place on the last night of a two-day visit
by US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, the first senior Washington
official to arrive since the army’s takeover.
Military helicopters hovered overhead and police vans were
brought in to quell the trouble. When that didn’t work, dozens of riot police
moved in. Medics treated men with deep gashes to their eyes and faces nearby.
[Reuters]
[Reuters]
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