Egypt’s bitter divides appears to be growing wider Saturday, hours after supporters and opponents of deposed president Mohamed Morsi battled in the streets of Cairo and across the country.

Officials say the death toll from Friday’s fighting has risen to 36, with more than 1,000 others injured. Rocks, bullet casings and other remnants of the violence are scattered acoss the capital city’s battle zones.

Egypt’s new interim president, jurist Adly Mansour, met at the presidential palace Saturday the country’s army chief, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, and the interior minister, who heads the national police. Associated Press reports Mansour also met with leaders of the Tamrod youth movement, which has been organizing anti-Morsi rallies.

Thousands of Morsi’s supporters rallied outside a mosque in Cairo’s Nasr City Saturday. Their Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they plan nonviolent resistance, but a new group that emerged Friday said it will take violent action if necessary to win the ousted president’s reinstatement.
 
The previously unknown group Ansar al-Shariah announced its formation with a lengthy statement declaring it does not support “democratic legitimacy” - the Muslim Brotherhood’s contention that Morsi was freely elected and should remain in office. It said establishment of Islamic sharia law in Egypt is its primary goal.

Fears of increased sectarian violence rose again Saturday after the killing of a Coptic priest in the northern Sinai.  Egyptian security officials said gunmen dragged the priest from his car and shot him repeatedly.

Officials also reported attacks by Islamist militants at several secutiry checkpoints in the region.

Despite the violence, Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been urging supporters to carry one with peaceful demonstrations.  The group’s “supreme guide,” Mohammed Badie, on Friday urged members to remain in Egypt’s squares and streets until Morsi is returned to power.

Badie’s appearance Friday was a surprise, because he had been reported in custody, along with his deputy, Khairat el-Shater. Many other leading figures in the Brotherhood have been detained.  And security officials said Shater was taken back into custody following Friday’s violent clashes.
 

Mahmoud al-Ashwal is one of the throng of Morsi supporters still rallying outside the Rabia al-Adawiya mosque. 

“This is a military coup,” he says. “It’s treason; [army chief] el-Sisi has betrayed the people. We say, ‘Down with military rule.’  Morsi is still the president of the republic, and he will not step down. We will continue the protest and will not surrender.” 

The army first arrested Morsi and other leaders of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday, when it suspended the constitution and ordered new elections. The army says its action was prompted by the risk of a mass uprising against Morsi’s policies and leadership.  Opponents accused the nation’s first democratically elected president of betraying the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The military and Egypt’s former opposition groups have called for reconciliation as the military moves forward with its so-called road map to restore democratic civilian rule.  As the violence raged Friday, the United States and the United Nations urged Egyptians to reach a peaceful end to the crisis and avoid violence. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Labor