E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Khaled Desouki / AFP - Getty Images
An anti-Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Morsi protester cries on the ground as a man tries to calm him down during clashes with Morsi supporters in Tahrir square, in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.
Opponents and supporters of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi clashed in Cairo on Friday in the first street violence between rival factions since the Islamist leader took office.
Islamists and their opponents threw stones, bottles and petrol bombs, and some fought hand-to-hand, showing how feelings still run high between the rival groups trying to shape the new Egypt after decades of autocracy, even though the streets have generally been calmer since Morsi's election in June.
The two sides hurled stones and chunks of concrete and beat each other for sticks for several hours, leaving more than 100 injured, according to the state news agency.
A government is in place, but Islamists and liberals are at odds over the drafting of the new constitution, which must be agreed on before a new parliament can be elected.
Many of the thousands who gathered in Tahrir Square were angry at this week's court ruling that acquitted former officials charged with ordering a camel and horseback charge on protesters in the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak last year.
But even before that ruling, Morsi's opponents had called for protests against what they say is his failure to deliver on his promises for his first 100 days in office.
PhotoBlog: Egypt's liberals and Islamists clash in violent protests
"Down, down with rule by the guide," Morsi's opponents chanted, suggesting that Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie pulls the strings even though Morsi officially quit the Brotherhood upon taking office.
"Morsi, Morsi," the president's backers responded.
Morsi boasted earlier this week in a nationally televised speech that he had carried out much of what he had promised for his first 100 days, and his supporters say he needs time in the face of overwhelming difficulties inherited from Mubarak's authoritarian and corruption-riddled rule.
One anti-Brotherhood protester in Tahrir, Abdullah Waleed, said he had voted for Morsi in this year's election to prevent his opponent — a longtime Mubarak loyalist — from winning.
Activists were in the streets of Cairo today demanding more action from President Mohammed Morsi. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
"Now I regret it because they are just two faces of the same coin," Waleed said. "Morsi has done nothing for the revolution. I want to say I am so sorry for bringing in another repressive regime."
Some demonstrators pulled down a temporary podium that had been erected on one side of the square for speeches. Later, Islamists took over the square, triggering scuffles in nearby streets as they tried to keep rival groups out.
Two buses parked near the square were set alight. Witnesses said they were used by the Brotherhood to bring in supporters.
"We went to protest against the constituent assembly and Morsi's failure in his 100 days, and Islamists prevented us and are now controlling the square," said Islam Wagdy, 19, a member of a group set up by leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy.
A member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party dismissed that account. "What happened today was an attempt by the liberal powers ... to prevent Islamists expressing their views and protesting in Tahrir, which belongs to all Egyptians and not to a certain current," said the FJP's Ahmed Sobeih.
"My conclusion here is that Morsi is just the president of the Brotherhood, that's all. We are back to square one," since Mubarak's fall, said Sayed al-Hawari, who carried a plank of wood as a shield against the volleys of stones.
A leftist protester, Rania Mohsen, said, "We are here against turning the state to a Brotherhood state .... We do not want to replace the old regime with a new like the old one."
A Morsi supporter, in turn, accused the other camp of being "thugs" who chanted against the leader of the Brotherhood and harassed the Islamists during noon prayers in Tahrir.
"We have to give Morsi a chance," 19-year-old Moez Naggar, said. "The more protests we have, the less we can expect from him."
Around nightfall, fighting stopped as the Brotherhood supporters left the square in buses.
There was no intervention by police who have often been the target of protesters' anger in the past because of their brutality against demonstrators in last year's revolt.
Anger over court ruling
The Brotherhood, which joined Friday's protest, had put the focus for the demonstration on this week's court ruling.
The charge by men on camels and horseback was one of the most violent incidents of the uprising that ousted Mubarak in February 2011. The case has been closely watched by those seeking justice for the hundreds killed in the revolt.
The court acquitted top Mubarak-era officials,such as former lower house speaker Fathi Sorour and Mubarak aide Safwat Sherif, both of whom are detested by many Egyptians.
Demonstrators also gathered in Egypt's second city, Alexandria, where Morsi went to a mosque to perform Friday prayers before giving a speech there.
"We won't let anyone involved in corruption get away," he said, while urging protesters not to disrupt people's work. As he spoke, some chanted: "The people want the judiciary purged."
Many blame the general prosecutor, perceived as a Mubarak loyalist, for not securing convictions.
In an apparent bid to appease the public, the president said late on Thursday he was moving Abdel Maguid Mahmoud out of that position to make him ambassador to the Vatican, because Egyptian law prevented him being dismissed.
Mahmoud denounced the move and told Egyptian media he would stay on. The influential judges' club condemned the decision as interference and called for a meeting of judicial officials on Sunday to discuss action, the state news agency reported.
Even some political groups who wanted Mahmoud out questioned the way Morsi had done it. The liberal Free Egyptians Party said changing the prosecutor should be an independent judicial move.
Morsi has won grudging respect from some opponents for pushing the army out of politics, after decades of rule by military men, and for raising Egypt's profile abroad.
But many Egyptians, with high expectations after the revolt, say he has not done enough at home, failing to deliver on promises for his first 100 days such as cleaning up cities and getting traffic moving in Egypt's congested streets.
Many more secular-minded Egyptians and minority Christians also worry that Morsi and his Islamist supporters will seek to impose religious restrictions on society.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Pakistan: 3 arrested over teen peace activist shooting
- Seven British marines arrested in Afghanistan murder probe
- Hezbollah admits launching drone over Israel
- Indonesia's Bali recalls horror of bombs 10 years on
- Tunisian magazine teaches children how to build a Molotov cocktail
- Video: Australian PM launches attack on ‘sexist’ opponent
Leave a Comment:
I am a Christian and while I appreciate and enjoy the sort of religious freedom we experience here in the West, persecution of any kind shouldn't destroy ones faith. A Christian should especially be able and willing to endure persecution because of their faith. I worry for the secularist and women of Egypt if the government pursues a more fundamentalist adherence to Islam. But as for the Christians they need to be reminded that the reward for their faith is not temporal and earthly but eternal and heavenly.
Just wait and watch!
It is time for moderate Muslims if any to battle the Islamic radicals and terrorists.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially Sunni Saudi inspired Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
Sunni Saudi backed Salaffi and MB new chapters are opening up in Egypt. Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
Even in Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians will be unbearable just like Iraq.
Pakis and Sunni Saudis and co are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones. Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
They are making the lives of their own people also miserable by their Islamic religious madness to the intolerable levels.
Seems to me I mentiond two month ago on the vine that I saw a muslim spring coming==coyote
You asked for it Morsi, now do something about it. And if you favor you phuqing Islamists, then I hope you get assassinated.
Egyptian Muslims should overthrow and remove the traces of Morsi, MB, Salaffi for their own good!
These apply to Turkey's Muslims too. They should overthrow the Islamic fundamentalist Erdogan and his party.
Non Muslims are getting fed up with these Islamic radicals and terrorists. Their attitudes are also hardening by everyday!
Yet again,we see that the arab and muslim world is not monolithic.There are young people throughout all those societies that reject relgious extremism and want genuine progress.Americans who say we have no dog in those fights are wrong.On the contrary,the US needs to be as actively involved as possible and influencing events in favor of arab and muslim liberals.That doesn't mean dropping bombs and sending in the troops.But is does require a President who'll stand up for american values instead of apologizing for them and stands by our friends wherever they are.
Mike...not far off..in order to reject extremism one must reject the hate filled culture of islam which incites and promotes extremist hate and violence. Yes, America must elect a new president who does not cower and apologize endlessly for the muslim atrocities, but who stands up for American values. Lastly there will never be "muslim liberals" until the cruel, hate filled leadership and culture of islam is destroyed. Islam by it's very nature can never be liberal.
So they must renounce hate while America should elect someone running on the tea party ticket of hate? Liberals are good in Egypt but bad in America? You must have whiplash.
Democracies are going to have growing pains, some with deadly consequences. The people of Egypt are regretting their choice, and are realizing after the fact that they could go back to square one. The method of mob violence needs to stop, we had the same problem early on in our Democracy.
They are correct that an injustice has been done when guilty people are cleared of killing their countrymen and women.The answer is not easy because steps are not in place to retry. They need to use our constitution as model, and adapt it to their culture,not religion, but culture. Just a basic rule of law, with basic rights then add the checks and baalnces, and let it grow.
Morsi must become a true leader, and delegate leaders to fix the infrastructure. The people themselves must have mini Democracies(local elections) at the local level. eg Mayors, Magistrates,council memebers, sporadic violence must be stopped by creating other outlets for justice. The wild west had to be tamed and it was,by individual lawmen stopping the mob mentality, of hang em high, with out due process. Rule of law must take root.
Once these things are done, the next election they can elect a more secular mix in the government. This all sounds good , but to see it actually happen or realized would be nothing short of a miracle. What we have surely is not perfect, eutopia will never exist, but what we have works, and it is dependant on the people to follow rule of law, or face theocracies, and dictators the rest of ther existence.
Beating the hell out of each other surely is not the answer, do not allow a theocracy to take hold Egypt, or you will be back to square one.
@jack;
You speak of "standing up for American values" then insult a whole religion in the same breath.lol
Very hypocritical sir
Obama cowers to nooone, and is decimating terrorist and their leaders weekly. Saying Obama does not stand up for our values is ridiculous, you obviously have no idea of the record of our president against radical Islam.
Do you not realize we have a Muslim congressman? Tell him what you have just said.lol
Yes this why they sacrificed thousands of lives to have a chance at it. They will not make the choices that we like or agreee each time, but it is their choice nonetheless. They also must live with them until next election.
Man dominating man to his own injury.
The thinking here is that The Brotherhood made a deal with the old government and army to leave them alone and allow them to keep their money in exchange for Egypt. This may not be as crazy as it first appears as no corruption charges have been proved in court against Mubarak or his kids. They must be found guilty of corruption to justify the return of the 60-90 billion dollars they have in foreign countries. Egypt eeds money, but no one is in a hurry to get this money.
Do not forget, the presidential election was bewteen Morso and Shafiq. Most Egyptians could not force themselves to vote for either, like having a choice between Stalin and Hitler.
The real explosion will soon come. It will be about democracy and hunger. That will be a bloodbath. No group has proved themselves so deaf politically than The Brotherhood.
The changes in Egypt will hurt Jews of Israel most.
Jews of Israel should be very patient.
They should not take sides and decide the winners as they did during Saddam. Netanyahus were dancing too many times by inventing stories like Saddam has chemical weapons, WMDs and so on.
See the changes that have been brought by Iraqi wars and high oil price manipulations by the Sunni Saudi barbarians and beasts, oil companies and their lobbyists.
The changes have been worst and devastating.
Please don't take Saudi sides and invent WMDs and chemical weapons in Syria and Iran.
Let Shiites battle Sunnis on whose Allah is greater.
Insist on removing sanctions on Iranian oil and crashing oil prices. First, let us weaken Sunni Saudis and co economically such that Shiites vs Sunnis battles will be worth watching.
Let us all infidels, jihadi materials, take care of the remaining Islamic radicals and terrorists.
The "Brotherhood"is not Egypt, It is global, it is fanatical, it is ideological.
In Egypt, they like Turkey. But wait until Turkey says it wants the new Caliph to live in Topaki Palace! This is when the fun will start. The Brotherhood got its footing in Egypt in part because King Faud wanted to be named Caliph.
@same; Let us hope their reign is short lived. The brotherhood surely has other agendas.
Correct there are different orders in other countries, but all with the same goals,just different ways to achieve them
The unrest in Egypt scare away tourists. The incomes from tourism are for 10% of national income.
Hilary Clinton needs to go....NOW....The US is giving away what the US citizens need....Also, B. Clinton lied under oath when he was president....how can anyone trust him? B. Clinton is campaiging for Obama.....what a joke....how soon the public forgets.
Romney/Ryan in 2012.