Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi are trapped in a mosque near Cairo’s Ramses Square as military and police forces keep the area surrounded. The tense standoff continued early on Saturday morning at the Egyptian capital’s Fateh Mosque. Speaking to Al Jazeera by phone from inside the mosque, Omaima Halawa said there were about 700 people, including women and children, inside and that they feared leaving the mosque because “there were thugs outside with the security forces, and that … the security forces were working with the thugs”. She said she feared about what might happen to her or where she would be taken if she left the mosque. Earlier, Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said people inside the mosque were hoping that the end of government-imposed curfew on Friday at 6am local time would save them from arrest. For his part, the Egyptian army’s spokesman used his Facebook page to accuse armed men of shooting from the mosque at nearby buildings. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Samer Shehata, who teaches Middle Eastern politics at the University of Oklahoma, said security forces should not be allowing civilians to gather outside the mosque as part of their mandate to control the situation. Violence erupted across Egypt again on Friday after the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups, under the banner of the Anti-Coup Alliance, called for protests in defiance of a security crackdown on pro-Morsi sit-ins that had left more than 600 dead since Wednesday. At least 95 people were killed in Cairo’s Ramses Square when security forces fired on protesters trying to stage what they called Day of Rage marches against the military-led government. Police also arrested more than 1,000 suspected Muslim Brotherhood supporters, including 558 in Cairo alone, on Friday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The Fateh Mosque had been turned into both a morgue and a field hospital by Morsi supporters until the standoff with security forces began. The Muslim Brotherhood has now called for a week of protests across the country following the latest deaths. Live fire use authorised An interim cabinet, installed by the army after it removed Morsi during rallies against his rule, has refused to back down in the face of the protests. It has authorised police to use live ammunition to defend themselves and state installations. Bader Abdel Atty, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, defended the actions of the security forces in an interview with Al Jazeera on Friday, saying that protesters were armed with machine guns. “They are raising al-Qaeda flags in the heart of Cairo,” he said “They are using machine guns against civilians. And this cannot be described as far as I know as a peaceful demonstration,” he said. Abdel Atty dismissed international condemnation of the violence and said Egypt would accept no external interference. Many Western allies have condemned the killings, including the US, but Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind the Egyptian government on Friday, accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to destabilise country. However, with no compromise in sight, the most populous Arab nation – which is often seen as leading events in the entire region – looks increasingly polarised and angry. A number of tour operators have suspended all holidays to Egypt until at least next month and the US has urged its citizens to leave the country. The EU has asked its states to consider “appropriate measures” to take in reaction to the violence, while Germany said it was reconsidering its ties.
Aug172013