CAIRO: At least 30 were killed and over 300 injured across Egypt in clashes between opponents and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and in clashes between pro-Morsi protesters and security forces, according to Egyptian Health Ministry officials.
In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the fierce clashes between rival protesters erupted after Friday prayers over this week’s ouster of Morsi in a military coup, the official MENA news agency reported.
Twelve people were killed and at least 200 injured in the Alexandria violence.
In the capital Cairo, security forces shot dead three pro-Morsi demonstrators on Friday outside the headquarters of the Republican Guard that provoked deadly clashes between the protesters and the forces.
Pro- and anti-Morsi protesters also clashed in running street battles in the capital, leaving several more people dead and scores of others injured.
The demonstrators hurled fireworks and stones at each other across a bridge near Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
In separate incidents in the North Sinai town of El Arish, five policemen were shot dead by unidentified gunmen.
In the southern city of Assiut, at least one more person died from gunshot wounds.
The Egyptian Army later restored order in Cairo and in some other cities, but the nationwide violence left at least 30 dead and 318 injured, security officials said.
Earlier in the day, Muslim Brotherhood supreme leader Mohammed Badie said the military coup against Egypt’s first democratically elected president is illegal and millions will remain on the street until Morsi is reinstated as president.
Badie made the remarks during a speech to tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters gathered at Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo.
He vowed to “complete the revolution” that toppled the Western-backed regime of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Badie repeatedly referred to Morsi as the president, who was removed from power after millions of people protested over his leadership, saying Morsi “is my president and your president and the president of all Egyptians.”
He vowed Morsi would return to the office soon. “God make Morsi victorious and bring him back to the palace,” Badie stated. “We are his soldiers we defend him with our lives.”
On Wednesday, Egypt’s army chief ousted Morsi, who took office in June 2012, and dissolved the country’s constitution in a move aimed at resolving the country’s political crisis.
General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also said that new parliamentary elections will be held, and declared head of Supreme Constitutional Court Adli Mansour as the caretaker leader.
The Egyptians launched the revolution against the pro-Israeli regime on January 25, 2011, which eventually brought an end to the 30-year dictatorship of Mubarak on February 11, 2011.
