Cairo: At least 525 people are now known to have died, and more than 3,000 have been injured according to the officials in the clashes between the security forces and supporters of the ousted Islamist president, happening from Wednesday.
On Thursday there was more violence as some demonstrators vowed to continue their fight.
Reason for the clashes:
Supporters of Mr Morsi – Egypt’s first freely elected president – have been staging street protests since he was ousted on 3 July. They want him to be reinstated.
He is currently in custody at an undisclosed location, and has been accused of the “premeditated murder of some prisoners, officers and soldiers” during a prison breakout in 2011.
Govt. takes strict measures to curb the protests:
Armoured bulldozers moved into the two protest camps in Cairo shortly after dawn on Wednesday morning.
Large plumes of smoke rose over parts of the city as the operation began. Security forces fired tear gas canisters fired and helicopters circled above.
The smaller camp in Nahda Square was cleared relatively quickly, but clashes raged for most of the day around the main camp near Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
Egyptian television said that by evening the security forces had seized full control of the site, and were allowing protesters there to leave.
But several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were reportedly detained, including Essam El-Erian and Mohamed El-Beltagi, whose 17-year-old daughter was reportedly killed.
A cameraman working for Sky News, Mick Deane, was also killed, as was a reporter for Gulf News, Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz. She was not working at the time.
There are also reports of unrest elsewhere in Egypt:
About 35 people have died in clashes in the province of Fayoum, south of Cairo, Reuters news agency says.
At least five people have been killed in the province of Suez, according to the health ministry.
Clashes have also been reported in the northern provinces of Alexandria and Beheira, and the central provinces of Assiut and Menya.
Seven churches have been damaged or torched across the country, according to interior minister Mohammed Ibrahim.
There has been strong international reaction to the storming of the camps.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the events were “deplorable” and “a real blow to reconciliation efforts”.
Violence was “simply not a solution” and ran “counter to Egyptians’ aspirations to peace and democracy”, he said.
“Violence and continued political polarization will further tear the Egyptian economy apart.”
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement: “We reiterate that violence won’t lead to any solution and we urge the Egyptian authorities to proceed with utmost restraint.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the result of the camp clearances as a massacre, accused other countries of paving the way for the violence by staying silent, and called for the UN and the Arab League to act immediately.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also condemned the use of force.
