Violence In Egypt

30 dead In Clashes Across Egypt

An Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman says the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Khairat el-Shater, considered the most powerful man in the organization has been arrested, as reports of the death toll from nationwide clashes Friday between supporters and opponents of the ousted president rose to 30.

Spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif says el-Shater and his brother were arrested late Friday from an apartment in eastern Cairo on allegations of inciting violence against protesters in recent days.

Earlier in the day, enraged Islamists pushed back against the toppling of Morsi, with tens of thousands of his supporters marching in Cairo on Friday to demand the reinstatement of Egypt’s first democratically elected leader. Soldiers fired on protesters, crowds of Islamists descended on Morsi opponents in stone-throwing and gun-firing clashes, and armored vehicles deployed on bridges over the Nile in mayhem that left at least 18 dead. According to Egyptian officials, 12 people were killed in clashes in Alexandria.

Health ministry officials said more than 200 people nationwide have been wounded.

In the late afternoon, in a dramatic appearance at a Cairo mosque — his first since Morsi’s ouster — the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood defiantly vowed the president would return. “God make Morsi victorious and bring him back to the palace,” Mohammed Badie proclaimed from a stage before a crowd of cheering supporters. “We are his soldiers we defend him with our lives.”

After nightfall, moments after Badie’s speech, a large crowd of Islamists surged across 6th October Bridge over the Nile toward Tahrir Square, where a giant crowd of Morsi’s opponents had been massed all day. Battles broke out there at near the neighboring state TV building with gunfire and stone throwing.

A fire burned on the bridge as Islamists sporting makeshift shields and wearing helmets they had brought in preparation traded stones with their opponents.

Egypt Violence Kills 17 As Morsi Backers Protest

Seventeen people were killed in violence in Egypt on Friday as supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi protested his overthrow by the army, state television said, quoting Health Ministry data.

Thousands of Morsi supporters demonstrated in cities across the country on what his Muslim Brotherhood called a "Friday of rage" against what they describe as a military coup that toppled Egypt's first elected leader a year after he took office

The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, told a protest rally on Friday that he was ready to reach an understanding with the armed forces - but only after Morsi was reinstated as president.

As a military helicopter hovered low over the crowd, Badie called on the army not to fire on its own people and said that demonstrations were stronger than tanks.