LATEST: Egypt — Muslim Brotherhood’s Party Rejects ElBaradei as Interim Prime Minister

Jump to Latest Update

At least 30 people were killed and 400 injured across Egypt on Friday, as protests supporting deposed President Mohamed Morsi turned into clashes with police and with Morsi’s opponents.

In Cairo, three protesters were slain when police suddenly opened fire on a pro-Morsi march nearing Republican Guards Headquarters, where the former President is reportedly under house arrest. Another three were killed and 199 wounded in a 90-minute battle between pro- and anti-Morsi groups on the 6 October Bridge, halted only when the police and army belatedly intervened.

The moment when police opened fire on the pro-Morsi march in Cairo:

Morsi supporters and opponents fight on the 6 October Bridge:

In Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, fighting between supporters and opponents of the former President and the Muslim Brotherhood was even deadlier, with 12 killed and more than 200 injured.

At least four people died in the Sinai town of El-Arish during an fight between police and gunmen in in front of a government building.

Three Coptic Christians were killed when their homes were burned in Luxor, according to Ahram Online.

Two days after the military seized power and deposed Morsi, supporters of the President marched their hundreds of thousands — the Brotherhood claimed millions — in Cairo and across the country.

The largest rally was at the Rabaa El-Adaweya Mosque in Nasr City, the site of a mass sit-in for the last two weeks. The Muslim Brotherhood’s leader, Mohamed Badie — who had supposedly been arrested on Wednesday night — defiantly addressed the crowd, calling on the army to “return to [its] rightful place” and declaring that protesters would occupy main squares until Morsi was reinstated.

The Tamarod (Rebel) movement, which organised the mass demonstrations last month that spurred Morsi’s downfall, and the National Salavation Front responded with the declaration that they would hold “the greatest rally” on Sunday. The NSF declared:

The Egyptian people should defend the legitimacy of the people and its will to end the oppressive rule. They need to support the democratic transition that started with the statement read out by the armed forces in response to the people’s will to start a transition period guided by a civil institution that reflects all forces. The people need to aid the armed forces to guard this achievement.

The Front added the implication that outside forces were behind the pro-Morsi protests: “We will not accept any foreign intervention in our internal affairs. We would sacrifice our souls for our freedom and that of our children.”

Latest Updates, From Top to Bottom

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood’s Party Rejects ElBaradei as Interim Prime Minister

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has rejected the appointment of Mohamed ElBaradei as interim Prime Minister.

“We reject this coup and everything that results from it, including ElBaradei,” a Party official said.

A presidential source said ElBaradei “accepted and will be sworn in shortly”.

According to an official source, the choice of ElBaradei came after the military failed to convince Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez to accept the job. Farouk El-Oqda, Ramez’s predecessor, also declined the post.

Turkey: Police Attack Protesters Near Taksim Square Gezi Park

Police have fired tear gas and water cannons on thousands of protesters gathering at Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue, ahead of a mass rally near Taksim Square and Gezi Park — the focal point of last month’s nationwide demonstrations against the Erdogan Government.

Protesters dispersed as security forces chased them in the side streets, using tear gas intensively. Ambulances were seen entering the area afterward.

Riot police officers were booed by by-standers at İstiklal Avenue. Metro access to Taksim Square was interrupted.

Protesters were organizing a “water fight” to denounce police’s repeated crackdowns, in which water cannons mix liquid with the same chemical substances used in pepper spray,.

A few hours earlier, the Istanbul governor had said that the demonstration was not authorized and would be challenged by police.

“The Constitution says that anyone can stage a demonstration without giving notification, but the legislation says that applying to the authorities for permission is mandatory. So nobody can say they exercise their constitutional rights. This is unlawful,” Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters.

He continued, “I can’t allow a demonstration that I haven’t permitted in advance, I can’t act unlawfully. So we won’t allow these gatherings. Our police will warn [them].”

Mutlu announced later via Twitter that Gezi Park will be open to the public tomorrow.

Meanwhile, security officials continue to launch raids and detain people over alleged vandalism during protests. Fifteen people were seized this weekend for allegedly harming private property and using Molotov cocktails while attending the Gezi Park protests, the third wave of raids against the movement.

Egypt: ElBaradei To Be Named Interim Prime Minister

News that Mohamed ElBaradei — former Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Nobel Prize laureate, and leader of the National Salvation Front, formed in opposition to former President Morsi last November — will have a significant role in the post-coup administration:

Egypt: Video of Arrest of Muslim Brotherhood’s El-Shater

Footage of Friday night’s detention of Khairat El-Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Deputy Supreme Guide, accused of inciting violence.

Egypt: Head of Al Jazeera Office Charged By Prosecutors

The head of Al Jazeera’s Cairo office, Abdel-Fattah Fayed, has been charged with harming national security.

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Reject Meeting With Interim President

The secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has rejected the invitation to a meeting with interim President Adly Mansour.

“The party doesn’t acknowledge the coup d’etat, we stress that the legitimate president for Egypt is Mohamed Morsi,” Hussein Ibrahim said in a statement.

President Mohamed Morsi, who built his career in the Brotherhood, was deposed by the military on Wednesday night and replaced by Mansour.

Egypt: Another Video of Friday’s Night Fight on 6 October Bridge

Egypt: Another Account of Morsi’s Final Days

Following the Associated Press’ revelations of President Morsi’s final days in office, Reuters posts an account from insiders of the events leading to the military coup. It opens:

For Egypt’s military chiefs, the final spur to rebellion came on June 26. That day top generals met Mohamed Mursi, the country’s first democratically elected president, and spoke bluntly, telling the Islamist leader what he should say in a major speech he planned as protests against him intensified around the country.

“We told him it has to be short, respond to opposition demands to form a coalition government, amend the constitution and set a timeframe for the two actions,” an officer present in the room told Reuters. “Yet he came out with a very long speech that said nothing. That is when we knew he had no intention of fixing the situation, and we had to prepare for Plan B.”

The officer added: “We had prepared for all scenarios, from street violence to mass clashes, and had troops ready to handle both situations.”

Egypt Videos: Protest and Clashes from El Arish to Cairo

A widely-viewed video of a pro-Morsi protest on Friday in El Arish in the Sinai — there are sounds of gunfire amid the presence of the Egyptian military, but the incident appears to end without casualties as the crowd returns to the square amid shouts of “God is great”:

A brief visual summary of the pro-Morsi march on Republican Guards Headquareters in Cairo, in which fire from security forces killed three people:

Iraq: 22 Killed in Friday Attacks

A suicide bomber killed 15 people as they left a Shia mosque in Baghdad on Friday, while an attack on Sunni protesters killed seven.

In Baghdad’s northwestern district of Graiaat, a woman blew herself up amidst worshippers leaving after sunset prayers.

The attack on Sunni protesters took place in Samarra, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad.

Egypt: Arrests of Muslim Brotherhood’s Deputy Leader, Salafist Presidential Candidate

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Deputy Supreme Guide, Khairat El-Shater, was arrested late Friday in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City, accused of inciting violence.

Shater, a wealthy businessman, was disqualified by a court from standing in the 2012 Presidential election but has remained a powerful political actor in the Brotherhood.

Earlier in the day, an Army spokesman had denied political arrests, as some Brotherhood figures, including the Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, were released from detention.

Salafist leader Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a Presidential candidate in 2012, was arrested at his home earlier on Friday. A photograph is circulating of his detention by armed forces.