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Egypt
Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed with Egyptian police and Cairo university buildings were set on fire killing one student.
State TV blamed protesters for the fire at al-Azhar University’s business faculty, where exams had to be postponed, and the agriculture faculty.
The Muslim Brotherhood said police were “fabricating” the charges.
Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed with Egyptian police and Cairo university buildings were set on fire killing one student
The crackdown on the group began when President Mohamed Morsi, who belongs to it, was deposed by the army in July.
The campus fires had been brought under control by Saturday afternoon, and some 60 people had been arrested, reports said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which had been banned since September from all activity, was declared a terrorist group on Wednesday following a suicide bombing of a police headquarters in the Nile Delta.
The government said the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the attack – a charge it strongly denied.
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Mohamed Morsi is to stand trial on charges including conspiring with foreign organizations to commit terrorist acts.
Prosecutors said Egypt’s ousted president had formed an alliance with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Thirty-five others, including former aides and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, have also been charged.
Since being deposed by the military in July, Mohamed Morsi has already gone on trial for inciting murder and violence.
The new charges carry the death penalty. Prosecutors describe the new charges as “the biggest case of conspiracy in the country’s history”.
Human rights organizations have expressed concern over whether Mohamed Morsi will be able to get a fair trial.
Mohamed Morsi’s supporters say the prosecutions are politically motivated, something the military-backed government denies.
Mohamed Morsi is to stand trial on charges including conspiring with foreign organizations to commit terrorist acts
He is one of thousands of Brotherhood members to have been detained in a crackdown portrayed by officials as a struggle against terrorism.
Hundreds of people have also been killed in clashes with security forces.
Mohamed Morsi and the other defendants, including the Brotherhood’s general guide Mohammed Badie and his two deputies, have now been charged with revealing state secrets to foreign organizations, sponsoring terrorism, and carrying out military training and other acts that undermined Egypt’s stability and independence.
Prosecutors allege that the Brotherhood had prepared a “terrorist plan” that included an alliance with Hamas, the Islamist group that governs Gaza, and Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese Shia Islamist movement.
Several of the defendants, including Mohamed Morsi’s former chief of staff Essam Haddad, were also reportedly accused of giving state secrets to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The prosecutors also implicated the Brotherhood in the surge in attacks on the security forces since Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow, most of which have taken place in the Sinai peninsula and been claimed by jihadist militants.
The violence was intended to “bring back the deposed president and to bring Egypt back into the Muslim Brotherhood’s grip”, they claimed.
Last month, Mohamed Morsi went on trial on charges of incitement in connection with clashes between his supporters and opposition protesters outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace in Cairo in December 2012, in which at least seven people died.
Proceedings have been adjourned until January 8th, but Mohamed Morsi will also go on trial on December 23rd on separate fraud charges connected with the Brotherhood’s economic and social programme for Egypt’s recovery, called Renaissance (al-Nahda).
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie has appeared in court for the first time since his arrest in August.
Mohammed Badie was seized along with other Brotherhood figures after the Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July.
Hundreds of Mohamed Morsi’s supporters were killed in clashes following the ousting.
Mohammed Badie, who is the movement’s General Guide, denied the Brotherhood had acted violently.
Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie has appeared in court for the first time since his arrest in August
He is facing charges of inciting violence and murder over the deaths of eight anti-Brotherhood protesters outside the movement’s headquarters in Cairo.
Mohammed Badie was in court in Cairo along with other Brotherhood figures.
He asked why the death of his son and the burning down of Brotherhood offices were not being investigated instead.
Mohammed Badie was a prominent figure at the Brotherhood’s protest camps in Cairo, but went into hiding as the military-backed interim government increased its efforts to shut down the protests.
His 38-year-old son Ammar was killed in the protests.
In a separate case, Egyptian prosecutors referred the secular activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and 24 others for trial.
They are accused of breaking Egypt’s new laws against protests by demonstrating without permission last month.
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Turkish ambassador to Cairo has been expelled, a day after PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi to be freed.
Relations with Ankara would be lowered to charge d’affaires, officials said.
On Friday, PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his criticism of the July overthrow of Mohamed Morsi and urged the Egyptian authorities to free him.
Egypt’s foreign ministry accused Recep Tayyip Erdogan of provocation and interfering in his country’s internal affairs.
Responding to Cairo’s decision to expel Ambassador Huseyin Avni Botsali, Turkey also announced the downgrading of ties and barred the Egyptian ambassador, declaring him “persona non grata”.
Turkey has been a vocal critic of the military overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, who is in prison awaiting trial on charges of inciting murder and violence.
Responding to Cairo’s decision to expel Ambassador Huseyin Avni Botsali, Turkey also announced the downgrading of ties and barred the Egyptian ambassador
He is one of thousands belonging to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood who have been detained in a crackdown the interim authorities have portrayed as a struggle against “terrorism”.
Hundreds of people have also been killed in clashes with security forces.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his criticisms on Friday, condemning the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi protesters in August.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty accused Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs”.
He said Turkey was “attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, supported meetings of organizations that seek to create instability in the country”.
A bitter row over the August crackdown led both countries to recall their ambassadors.
Turkey’s ambassador to Cairo returned in September, but the Egyptian ambassador to Turkey was never reinstalled.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, like Mohamed Morsi, has his roots in political Islam. Ankara and Istanbul have hosted a series of meetings of the international Muslim Brotherhood.
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At least ten Egyptian soldiers are reported killed and dozens more wounded in a car bomb attack near the North Sinai city of el-Arish.
Al-Masri al-Youm newspaper said a convoy of buses carrying infantry soldiers was hit by a roadside bomb as it moved through the Kharouba area.
The death toll was likely to rise, a security source said.
Attacks on security forces in the Sinai have increased since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted in July.
No group has admitted carrying out Wednesday’s bombing, but the peninsula has grown increasingly unstable in recent years, triggered by the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
His overthrow in February 2011 left the northern Sinai prone to groups of jihadists, some with links to the Gaza Strip.
Ten Egyptian soldiers are reported killed and dozens more wounded in a car bomb attack near the North Sinai city of el-Arish
In September security forces launched an offensive against Islamist militants in the Sinai, but have suffered a spate of deadly bombings. In recent months some 100 members of the security forces have been killed.
Wednesday’s attack, which took place at around 07:45 local time on the road from Rafah to el-Arish, is thought to be the bloodiest against the military since Mohamed Morsi was deposed.
Among the 10 who died were six soldiers, three security officers and the driver, the military said.
Another 35 soldiers were wounded in the explosion which was said to have hit one of the two buses in the convoy.
The attack is reported to have targeted Egypt’s Second Field Army, which has been deployed in Sinai and has been involved in an operation to destroy tunnels along Egypt’s border with Gaza.
The soldiers were on their way back to Cairo on leave, reports said. Some of the most seriously wounded victims were being airlifted to hospital in the capital.
Egypt’s government has decided to lift the state of emergency and the night-time curfew.
The move came two days earlier than expected, after a court ruling.
The state of emergency and the night-time curfew were introduced on August 14 after security forces forcibly ended sit-ins in support of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
The measures had been due to last a month, but the government extended them for two more months on September 12.
The state of emergency and the curfew were lifted with effect from 16:00 local time.
Egypt’s government has decided to lift the state of emergency and the night-time curfew
This followed the ruling by the administrative court that said the decree extending the measures should only be effective for two calendar months.
The army-backed government said it would abide by the verdict.
The state of emergency and the 01:00-05:00 curfew had allowed the authorities to make arrests without warrants and search people’s homes.
Many people had also blamed the curfew for a fall in business in Cairo – at a time when the government was trying to create jobs and revive the economy.
The measures were introduced after hundreds of people died following the clearing of the pro-Morsi camps in the capital.
Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president, was ousted by the army in July following widespread demonstrations against his rule.
Egyptians lived under a state of emergency – which gives extra powers to the security services – for more than three decades, until President Hosni Mubarak was forced from power amid mass protests in 2011.
According to a poll of gender experts, Egypt is now the worst country for women’s rights in the Arab world.
The study found s**ual harassment, high rates of female genital mutilation and a growth in conservative Islamist groups contributed to the low ranking.
The Comoros islands came top in the survey, which was conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The poll surveyed more than 330 gender experts in 21 Arab League states as well as Syria.
It is the foundation’s third annual study focusing on women’s rights since the Arab Uprisings in 2011.
Iraq ranked second-worst after Egypt, followed by Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.
Egypt is now the worst country for women’s rights in the Arab world, according to a poll of gender experts
The Comoros, where women hold 20% of ministerial positions, is followed at the top of the rankings by Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar.
The poll asked experts to assess factors such as violence against women, reproductive rights, treatment of women within the family and women’s role in politics and the economy.
Discriminatory laws and a spike in trafficking contributed to Egypt’s place at the bottom of the ranking of 22 Arab states, the survey said.
“There are whole villages on the outskirts of Cairo and elsewhere where the bulk of economic activity is based on trafficking in women and forced marriages,” said Zahra Radwan of US-based rights group Global Fund for Women.
However, s**ual harassment was cited as the main factor.
A UN report in April said 99.3% of women and girls in Egypt had been subjected to s**ual harassment.
“The social acceptability of everyday s**ual harassment affects every woman in Egypt regardless of age, professional or socio-economic background, marriage status, dress or behavior,” said Noora Flinkman of Egyptian campaign group HarassMap.
Meanwhile, the survey said Iraq was now more dangerous for women than under Saddam Hussein, with women disproportionately affected by the violence of the past decade.
Saudi Arabia ranked poorly on women’s involvement in politics, workplace discrimination, freedom of movement and property rights.
However, the conservative country scored better than many other Arab states when it came to access to education and healthcare, reproductive rights and gender violence.
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Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi has arrived in court in Cairo where he is due to go on trial, state media say.
Mohamed Morsi and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood figures face charges of inciting the killing of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace.
Security services are on high alert after supporters of the former president called for major protests.
Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in July after protests against his rule.
According to state TV, Mohamed Morsi arrived at the courtroom, inside the Police Academy in Cairo. Other key Brotherhood figures, Essam el-Erian, Mohammed al-Beltagi and Ahmed Abdel Aati are also there.
While Mohamed Morsi was airlifted into the compound by helicopter, other defendants were said to have been brought in by armoured personnel carriers.
Mohamed Morsi and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood figures face charges of inciting the killing of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace
The ousted president was seen from a distance in civilian clothes, Egyptian radio reported. This is his first appearance in public since he was ousted on July 3.
The trial had been due to take place at Tora prison on the other side of Cairo but had been switched late on Sunday, apparently to deter protesters.
Shortly after Mohamed Morsi’s arrival, a small crowd arrived and began chanting outside the sprawling police compound more than one hour’s drive from the centre of the city. The crowd soon grew to number some 200.
Although Mohamed Morsi won the presidency in a democratic election, during his 13 months in power he fell out with key institutions.
The ex-president is accused of “incitement to murder and violence” over the deaths of at least 10 people during intense clashes in December 2012 which followed a decree that gave him wide-ranging powers.
After he was ousted, a sit-in protest in Cairo by Mohamed Morsi’s supporters was violently broken up by the military, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people.
The interim government has also cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Mohamed Morsi hails, banning the Islamist organization and arresting dozens of senior figures.
His supporters say he was removed in a coup and is now facing a politicized trial. Human rights groups accuse the security services of acting without accountability.
Mohamed Morsi and his co-defendants are expected to use the trial to underline what they see as the illegitimacy of their ousting. There is considerable interest in Egypt in whether the authorities decide to televise the former leader’s appearance in court.
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Secretary of State John Kerry has called for an end to all violence in Egypt and urged moves to full democracy on his first visit to the country since President Mohamed Morsi was ousted.
“History has demonstrated that democracies are more stable, viable and prosperous than any alternative,” John Kerry told a news conference.
“With stability comes tourism and investment, and with both come jobs.”
John Kerry said the US was committed to working with Egypt’s military-backed rulers.
John Kerry on his first visit to Egypt since President Mohamed Morsi was ousted
His visit to Cairo was not disclosed by US officials until he landed. It is the first time a US secretary of state has travelled to Egypt on a visit that is unannounced for security reasons.
On his six-hour stop John Kerry was meeting the interim leaders that assumed control following Mohamed Morsi’s removal in July – President Adly Mahmud Mansour, PM Hazem el-Beblawi, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Egypt is the first stage of a nine-day tour that John Kerry will take in Middle Eastern and North African countries, as well as Poland.
Former President Mohamed Morsi goes on trial on Monday.
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Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef’s television show has been suspended just minutes before it was due to go on air.
The private CBC channel said Bassem Youssef had not followed editorial policies and wanted more money.
The move comes a week after his al-Bernameg (Programme) show poked fun at Egypt’s powerful military, triggering complaints.
The decision will heighten concerns about freedom of speech restrictions.
The CBC channel announced its decision in a statement on Friday evening.
Bassem Youssef’s television show has been suspended just minutes before it was due to go on air
It said Bernameg‘s latest taped episode showed that the presenter and his producers “insisted on violating the editorial policy”.
It did not provide details on how the policy had been violated, but added that the political satire show would remain suspended until the problems were solved.
Last week, Bassem Youssef’s show took aim at the army and its chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The controversial presenter joked about chocolate bars being made in the image of the general.
That show triggered several complaints from viewers, and Egypt’s public prosecutor later ordered an investigation.
In March, Bassem Youssef was released on bail after questioning by prosecutors over allegations he insulted Islam and the then-President Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the military in July.
In April, a court rejected a lawsuit calling for a ban on his programme.
Bassem Youssef is a doctor who shot to fame after winning a large number of followers with his witty lampooning of public figures in amateur videos posted on the internet following the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s rule in February 2011.
Bassem Youssef became a household name when his satirical show – likened to Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show in the US – began to be broadcast.
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Clashes between former President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters and Egyptian troops have erupted in Cairo and other cities on Friday.
Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard in the centre of Cairo and tear gas was used. The government denied reports that a protester was killed.
Troops were out in force to prevent the protesters reaching Tahrir Square.
State TV reported further clashes in the northern Sharqiya district and to the east in Giza, as well as in the northern port city of Alexandria.
There were also reports of clashes between pro-Morsi demonstrators and civilian supporters of the military government.
One demonstrator was killed in the centre of the capital, according to some reports, although state TV carried a statement from the health ministry denying anyone had died.
Hundreds of Islamist protesters have died in violence since the Egyptian military deposed Mohamed Morsi in July.
Hundreds of Islamist protesters have died in violence since the Egyptian military deposed Mohamed Morsi in July
Thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood have also been detained over the past two months.
Several senior figures, including Mohamed Morsi and the movement’s general guide Mohammed Badie, are being held on charges such as incitement to violence and murder.
The authorities portray the crackdown as a struggle against “terrorism”.
Protesters in the capital’s Agouza district were chanting “Rabaa, Rabaa”, a reference to the square next to the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque where a sit-in was cleared by force in August.
Later, security forces fired tear gas at Morsi supporters as they tried to march towards Tahrir Square, the focus of the mass protests against Mohamed Morsi and his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.
Troops also took up positions on both sides of Qasr al-Nil Bridge, which leads to the square from the Zamalek district.
Before Friday’s clashes, soldiers and police had tightened security around key sites in Cairo, including Tahrir Square.
Mohamed Morsi supporters have said they will be intensifying their demonstrations in the lead-up to Sunday’s 40th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Opponents who back the army have also said they will take to the streets.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Brotherhood sharply criticized the officers behind the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, comparing them to Adolf Hitler, the Roman emperor Nero and the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan.
It urged Egyptian soldiers to rebel and said it hoped that Sunday would mark a “victory by the people over those who staged a coup against them for personal gain”.
On Thursday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Baroness Catherine Ashton, held talks with armed forces chief General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and interim President Adly Mansour, as well as with religious leaders.
“I got a real sense of everyone really trying to go forward in the right way,” she told reporters afterwards.
The previous day, a 16-year-old boy was killed in clashes between Mohamed Morsi supporters and opponents in the Red Sea city of Suez.
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Egyptian soldiers have clashed with militants after entering Kerdasa, a town near Cairo.
Security forces went into Kerdasaa at about 05:30 local time to target “criminal and terrorist hotbeds”, officials told Mena news agency.
Militants shot dead General Nabil Farag, a senior policeman, state media said.
Eleven police officers were killed at a police station in Kerdasah last month, weeks after the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July.
In the hours before police and soldiers moved in, the mood in the town was defiant.
Thousands of people attended a pro-Morsi rally on Wednesday night amid shouts of “Down with Sisi”, referring to the head of the army.
The authorities had promised to respond to the deadly attack on the police station in August.
According to state media, Assistant Interior Minister for Central Security Maj. Gen. Ashraf Abdullah met troops shortly before the mission began.
Egyptian soldiers have clashed with militants after entering Kerdasa, a town near Cairo
After performing dawn prayers, the troops began taking their positions in armored vehicles ready for the start of the operation, Mena reported.
State-run Nile News TV later showed live pictures of army vehicles positioned in Kerdasah and other armored vehicles moving in the area.
“I can’t be responsible if you get shot,” an officer was heard telling a local man.
An Egyptian interior ministry spokesman told Nile News: “There are still some armed elements on rooftops in Kerdasah and we are currently dealing with them.”
In a separate incident on Thursday, several metro lines in the capital were disrupted after two unexploded bombs were found on the tracks near Hilmiyat al-Zaytun station in the south of Cairo.
Security officials said bomb experts were dispatched to the scene and defused the “primitive” devices before rail services resumed.
At least 1,000 people – including about 100 police officers – have died in unrest following President Mohamed Morsi’s removal from power.
The deadliest incidents took place when security forces moved in to disperse two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo last month.
Kerdasa, known for producing and selling textiles, is 8.7 miles from Cairo.
Egyptian forces arrested dozens of residents during a raid on Monday on pro-Morsi supporters in the town of Delga, Minya province, about 200 miles south of Cairo.
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Egypt’s new government has decided to press ahead with the legal dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood, state media report.
A spokesman for the social solidarity ministry said it would revoke the Islamist movement’s non-governmental organization status “within days”.
The Muslim Brotherhood had failed to respond to allegations of forming militia and illegal activities, he added.
The military authorities have launched a crackdown on the group since ousting President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
Egypt’s new government has decided to press ahead with the legal dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood
Dozens of senior figures, including its general guide Mohammed Badie, have been detained over allegations of inciting violence and murder.
Hundreds of people demanding Mohamed Morsi’s reinstatement, most of them Muslim Brotherhood members, have also been killed in clashes with security forces, who portray the crackdown as a struggle against “terrorism”.
The 85-year-old Islamist movement was banned by Egypt’s military rulers in 1954, but registered itself as an NGO in March in response to a court case bought by opponents who contested its legal status.
The Muslim Brotherhood also has a legally registered political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, which was set up in June 2011 as a “non-theocratic” group after the uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak from power.
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Eleven supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi have been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of attacking the Egyptian army.
The men were accused of wounding soldiers, sabotaging armored vehicles and burning churches during riots in the port city of Suez last month.
Forty-five others received five-year sentences, while five were acquitted.
The riots followed a deadly crackdown by security forces on two pro-Morsi protest camps in the capital, Cairo.
Hundreds of people, mostly members of Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, were killed when the sit-ins outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and at Nahda Square were cleared on August 14.
The unrest in Suez, 87 miles to the east of Cairo, on August 14 and 16 left more than 30 dead.
It is not clear if those convicted on Tuesday are Brotherhood members. But if they are, the verdicts would be the first affecting the Islamist group since the military launched a campaign against it after ousting Mohamed Morsi.
Eleven supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi have been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of attacking the Egyptian army
State prosecutors announced on 1 September that after almost two months in detention at a secret location, Mohamed Morsi would stand trial for inciting murder and violence.
The charges relates to the deaths of at least seven people during clashes between opposition protesters and Brotherhood supporters outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace in Cairo in December 2012.
Fourteen other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures, including Mohammed al-Beltagi and Essam al-Erian, will be tried on the same charge.
Also on Tuesday, a court in Cairo ordered the closure of four television stations, including the Brotherhood’s Ahrar 25 TV and al-Jazeera’s Egyptian affiliate Mubasher Misr, saying they were operating illegally.
The stations were seen by the authorities as being sympathetic to the Brotherhood.
The group called for protests demanding the reinstatement of Mohamed Morsi in the capital on Tuesday under the slogan: “The coup is terrorism.”
The state news agency, Mena, said security forces had sealed off some roads in the capital. Military vehicles were reported to be blocking the entrances to the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and Tahrir Square, the centre of the anti-government protests which triggered the Egyptian revolution in 2011.
The resumption of national rail services after 17 days was also delayed.
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Egypt’s state prosecutor announces he has referred ousted President Mohamed Morsi for trial on charges of inciting the murder of protesters.
The accusations relate to violence outside the presidential palace in Cairo last December when at least seven people were killed in clashes.
Fourteen other members of the Muslim Brotherhood are to stand trial on the same charges.
Mohamed Morsi has been held at a secret location since he was deposed in July.
He faces a number of charges but this case is his first referral for trial.
Since he was ousted from power, the military-backed interim government has cracked down on Brotherhood supporters, who are demanding Mohamed Morsi’s reinstatement.
Last month, hundreds of protesters died when security forces stormed pro-Morsi camps in the capital.
Egypt’s state prosecutor announces he has referred ousted President Mohamed Morsi for trial on charges of inciting the murder of protesters
The state prosecutor referred the former president for trial late on Sunday, Egypt’s state media reported.
They said he would go on trial on charges of “incitement to murder and violence” in December 2012.
The date for the trial is yet to be announced.
The case relates to clashes outside the presidential palace in early December 2012.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators had rallied outside the building on the night of 4 December and the following day in protest at what they described as Mohamed Morsi’s illegal decrees giving him sweeping powers and also his drive to change the country’s constitution.
On Sunday, state media said an investigation revealed that Mohamed Morsi had asked the Republican Guard and the minister in charge of police to break up the protesters’ sit-in, but they had refused to obey the order.
Mohamed Morsi’s aides are then alleged to have called their supporters to deal with the demonstrators.
At least seven people died in the clashes and hundreds more were injured.
Mohamed Morsi’s supporters say they were defending the palace after being attacked by opposition activists.
Among the other 14 suspects due to go on trial with the ousted president are leading figures in the Brotherhood’s political wing, Mohammed al-Beltagi and Essam El-Erian.
Mohamed Morsi has previously been accused of the “premeditated murder of some prisoners, officers and soldiers” when he and several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were freed during a breakout at a Cairo prison in January 2011.
Mohamed Morsi is also alleged to have plotted attacks on jails in the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak and of conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
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General Guide Mohammed Badie, the spiritual leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, has been arrested in Cairo, officials say.
Reports said Mohammed Badie was detained at a residential flat in Nasr City.
A state of emergency is in force in Egypt amid turmoil following a crackdown on Islamists in which hundreds have died.
Three days of mourning are being held for 25 police killed in Sinai by suspected Islamist militant extremists.
Almost 900 people, including more than 100 police and soldiers, are reported to have been killed in Egypt since Wednesday, when the army cleared protest camps set up by supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi, many of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
On Sunday, 36 Islamist protesters died in a prison van in the capital, Cairo.
Hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been detained over recent days.
Mohammed Badie had been on the run as the military-backed interim authorities in Egypt try to suppress protests at the ousting of Mohamed Morsi.
He is facing charges of inciting violence and murder over the killing of eight anti-Brotherhood protesters outside the movement’s headquarters in Cairo last June.
Officials and state media said Mohammed Badie was detained in a flat in Nasr City in north-east Cairo, near the site of one of the protest camps bloodily broken up last week.
Images of Mohammed Badie shortly after his arrest were shown on the private channel ON TV.
Mohammed Badie, the spiritual leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, has been arrested in Cairo
The arrest comes days after Mohammed Badie’s 38-year-old son, Ammar, was shot dead during protests in the capital’s Ramses Square.
Mohammed Badie’s deputy, Khairat al-Shatir, was arrested in the days following Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow.
Correspondents say his detention will further ratchet up tensions in the country, where an indefinite dusk till dawn curfew is in place, a leaves a power vacuum at the top of the Brotherhood movement.
The attack on the Sinai police convoy, close to the town of Rafah on the Gaza border, was one of the deadliest on security forces in several years.
It is not clear who carried out the attack. Sinai is home to a range of militant groups, some of which have links to al-Qaeda.
The off-duty police officers were reportedly ordered to leave the buses before being shot in the back of the head.
State television showed their flag-draped coffins arriving by plane in Cairo.
Egypt’s official media has not connected the killings to the Muslim Brotherhood, but the deaths add to the sense of crisis.
In a separate incident, another police officer was killed in the north Sinai town of el-Arish.
Attacks by Islamist militants on the Egyptian security forces have surged in northern Sinai since 2011 – they have been close to daily in recent weeks.
European Union foreign ministers will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to cut some of the billions of euros in aid pledged to Egypt.
Meanwhile, Egyptian prosecutors have added a further 15 days to ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s detention while they investigate fresh allegations against him.
Mohamed Morsi has reportedly been accused of complicity in acts of violence against protesters outside the presidential palace last December. His detention had already been extended by 30 days in a separate case on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for another former leader, Hosni Mubarak, has said he hopes his client could be released from prison within the next two days.
Lawyer Fareed al-Dib said Hosni Mubarak had been cleared of one corruption charge and they were waiting for the court to check whether he still had to be held in custody on other counts.
Hosni Mubarak is facing a retrial for corruption and complicity in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising which ended in his removal from power after 30 years.
While it is still no more than a rumor, analysts say his release would be seen by many Egyptians as a signal that the military is rolling back the changes that flowed from the uprising of 2011.
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Egypt’s security forces have cleared al-Fath mosque in Cairo after a long stand-off with Muslim Brotherhood supporters barricaded inside, state media says.
All the protesters have now been taken out of the mosque, and many have been arrested, security forces say.
The confrontation at the al-Fath mosque continued for most of the day – with exchanges of gunfire between security forces and protesters.
Meanwhile interim PM Hazem Beblawi has proposed legally dissolving the Brotherhood.
The group supports the ousted President Mohamed Morsi, and wants him to be reinstated.
Despite being closely allied to Mohamed Morsi’s government, the Brotherhood has always technically been a banned organization – it was officially dissolved by Egypt’s military rulers in 1954 – but it recently registered itself as a non-governmental organization.
If it was legally dissolved, its property and assets could be seized.
It has called for daily demonstrations since a crackdown on its protest camps in Cairo on Wednesday left hundreds of people dead. Further clashes on Friday killed at least another 173 people.
Hazem Beblawi believes the protests are “terrorist acts”, according to his spokesman, Sharif Shawqi.
Sharif Shawqi told a televised news conference on Saturday that the Muslim Brotherhood’s return to power was impossible.
Egypt’s security forces have cleared al-Fath mosque in Cairo after a long stand-off with Muslim Brotherhood supporters barricaded inside
The stand-off began overnight, when the al-Fath mosque – which was being used as a makeshift clinic for the injured and morgue for the dead from clashes on Friday – turned instead into what correspondents describe as a fortress.
Brotherhood members barricading themselves inside, using anything at their disposal.
It turned into a scene of chaos. Tear gas was fired into the building, and witnesses saw live ammunition fired by both sides.
Al-Jazeera television called one woman inside the mosque on her mobile phone as the shooting began.
“Nobody here is safe, they are shooting inside the mosque,” she said, with loud firing heard in the background.
Egyptian police have been bringing some Mohamed Morsi supporters out of the building – leading some, dragging others – but are then having to protect them from angry mobs armed with bats and pieces of wood who are trying to attack them, correspondents say.
The authorities want to secure all buildings to avoid a repeat of Muslim Brotherhood supporters forming more camps, as they did after Mohamed Morsi was ousted.
Separately, the Egyptian authorities say they have arrested the brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Mohammed al-Zawahiri was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, near Cairo, because of his links to Mohamed Morsi, according to security officials.
Also on Saturday, the Muslim Brotherhood said on its Facebook page that Ammar Badie, the son of the movement’s spiritual leader, General Guide Mohamed Badie, was one of those killed during protests on Friday.
The Brotherhood said that Ammar Badie, 38, had died of a bullet wound in Ramses Square on Friday.
The secretary-general of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Mohammed al-Beltagi, says his 17-year-old daughter, Asmaa, died in earlier protests.
Saturday’s violence comes after days of unrest in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt.
The escalation in tensions began on Wednesday, when armored bulldozers moved into the two Cairo protest camps which had been occupied by pro-Morsi activists since he was ousted on 3 July.
The camps were eventually cleared, but not before at least 638 people were killed.
Mobs later carried out reprisal attacks on government buildings and police stations as well as churches belonging to the country’s Coptic Christian minority.
On Friday, hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters gathered in Ramses Square for a “march of anger” about the bloodshed earlier in the week.
At least 173 people died across the country on Friday in clashes between the Brotherhood and the security forces.
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Egypt has declared state of emergency after scores of people were killed when security forces stormed pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.
The camps had been occupied by supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed in early July.
The health ministry says 149 people have been killed. But the Muslim Brotherhood, which was behind the protests, says more than 2,000 died.
The state of emergency is scheduled to last for a month.
It imposes a curfew in Cairo and several other provinces between 19:00 local time and 06:00.
The measure was taken because the “security and order of the nation face danger due to deliberate sabotage, and attacks on public and private buildings and the loss of life by extremist groups,” the presidency said in a statement.
In the wake of the violence, Vice-President Mohammed El Baradei has announced his resignation from the interim government.
Armored bulldozers moved deep into the main protest camp outside Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque shortly after dawn on Wednesday morning.
Officials say another protest camp, at Nahda Square, has been cleared and a mopping-up operation in the surrounding streets was under way.
Reporters described wounded protesters being treated next to the dead in makeshift field hospitals.
The 17-year-old daughter of leading Muslim Brotherhood figure Mohamed el-Beltagy was among the dead, reports say. Asmaa el-Beltagy was shot in the back and chest, her brother said.
A cameraman working for Sky News, Mick Deane, has also been killed – as has a reporter for Gulf News, Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz.
Egypt has declared state of emergency after scores of people were killed when security forces stormed pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo
The White House condemned the bloodshed, saying it “runs directly counter to the pledges by the interim government to pursue reconciliation”.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged “all Egyptians to concentrate their efforts on promoting genuinely inclusive reconciliation”, his spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
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
- Hundreds are said to have gathered outside the governor’s office in Aswan in the south
- State news agency Mena says three churches were attacked, one in the city of Sohag with a large number of Coptic Christian residents
It is still unclear how many casualties were caught up in the two Cairo operations. Figures differ widely and have been impossible to verify independently.
The health ministry has issued an official death toll of 95.
The interior ministry earlier denied any deaths were caused by its forces firing live ammunition.
“Security forces used only tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters though it was heavily fired at by armed elements from inside the two protest camps, causing the death of an officer and a conscript and the injury of four policemen and two conscripts,” the ministry said in a statement.
The government had congratulated the security forces on their operation.
In a televised statement, a government spokesman praised their “self-restraint” and spoke of the “smaller number” of injuries among protesters.
The government would decisively confront attempts to attack state buildings and police stations, he said.
Supporters of Mohamed Morsi have been occupying Nahda Square and the Rabaa al-Adawiya site since he was ousted on July 3. They want him reinstated.
Large plumes of smoke rose over parts of the city as the operation to clear the camps began, with tear gas canisters fired and helicopters hovering above.
Muslim Brotherhood TV called for people to send cars to the sit-ins to take casualties to hospital.
Several Muslim Brotherhood figures have been arrested, security sources said.
There has been strong international reaction to the storming of the camps.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news conference that the administration had repeatedly urged the Egyptian military and security forces to show restraint, and strongly opposed the declaration of a state of emergency.
The European Union called the reports of deaths and injuries “extremely worrying”.
A statement issued on behalf of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: “We reiterate that violence won’t lead to any solution and we urge the Egyptian authorities to proceed with utmost restraint.”
Turkish PM 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.
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Egyptian security forces moved in to clear two protest camps occupied by supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo killing at least 15 people.
But the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs the protests, put the number of casualties much higher.
Bursts of gunfire were heard and armored bulldozers moved in. Security forces fired tear gas.
Authorities say the Nahda Square camp in western Cairo has been cleared.
The interior ministry said a mopping up operation in the surrounding streets was under way. Pro-Morsi activists were chased into the nearby zoo and Cairo University, Nile TV said.
Witnesses spoke of seeing at least 15 bodies on the ground, but the Muslim Brotherhood, describing the security forces’ intervention as a massacre, put the number of those killed at more than 100.
At least two member of the security forces were among the dead and nine were injured, officials say.
Egyptian security forces moved in to clear two protest camps occupied by supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo
Supporters of Mohamed Morsi have been occupying Nahda Square and the site outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in the north-east of the city since he was ousted on 3 July. They want him reinstated.
Earlier, the interior ministry issued a statement saying security forces were taking “necessary measures” against the protest camps.
The statement said a safe exit would be provided for protesters and they would not be pursued, “except those who are wanted by the prosecution”.
The interior ministry is keen “not to shed any Egyptian blood”, the statement went on.
Large plumes of smoke rose over parts of the city as the operation to clear the camps began.
Muslim Brotherhood TV called for people to send cars to the sit-ins to take casualties to hospital.
An armored bulldozer was used to breach brick walls erected by the protesters outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
Live firing was heard as the security forces moved in, our correspondent says, and police are now patrolling the nearby streets.
More than 250 people have been killed in clashes with the security forces in the six weeks since Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow.
On Tuesday, one person was killed in a confrontation between supporters and opponents of Mohamed Morsi in Giza after people marched from Nahda Square to a nearby complex of government buildings to protest against the appointment of several military officers as provincial governors.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said the sit-ins could not continue “endlessly”.
He said the authorities had been trying to seek an agreement through dialogue.
“If the police force take their procedures, they will do that in accordance with the law by court order and in accordance to the basic norms on which these things are done.”
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Seven Egyptian protesters have been killed in Cairo in overnight clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
Police used tear gas to drive back protesters, some hurling rocks, who had blocked a main route in the capital.
The clashes came as senior US envoy William Burns visited Egypt, saying it had been given a “second chance” at democracy.
William Burns met interim leaders but was snubbed by rival groups, including Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Mohamed Morsi was ousted on July 3 in what many have said was a military coup. The army says it was fulfilling the demands of the people after mass anti-Morsi protests.
Monday’s battles erupted after hundreds of protesters, mostly members of Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement, blocked the Sixth of October bridge, a major route over the Nile and through the capital, and the nearby Ramses Square, a transport hub.
Police fired tear gas to try to break up the blockade. Protesters responded by throwing stones. Other clashes broke out in the Giza district, in the south-west.
The head of Egypt’s emergency services, Mohamed Sultan, said two people had died on or around the bridge and five in Giza.
State media quoted health ministry official Khaled al-Khatib as saying 261 people were injured in the clashes, which lasted into the early hours of Tuesday.
Khaled al-Khatib said 124 people were still in hospital.
Mohamed Sultan said security personnel were among the casualties.
Members of the Brotherhood said security forces had used live ammunition, and accused them of attacking a peaceful protest.
Seven Egyptian protesters have been killed in Cairo in overnight clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi
“We were praying. Suddenly there was shouting. We looked up and the police were on the bridge firing tear gas down on us,” protester Adel Asman told Reuters news agency.
State media later quoted officials as saying 401 people had been arrested for “provoking unrest”.
The latest clashes are the most violent since last week, when more than 50 Morsi supporters were killed in fighting with troops outside the Republican Guard compound, where they believe the former president is being held.
The interim government has since announced its transition plan. A panel is to be formed by next week to draw up amendments to the constitution and a timetable for new elections.
But the Brotherhood has said it will not join a transitional government.
Mohamed Morsi supporters are demanding his reinstatement and have been holding a round-the-clock vigil outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, in the east of the capital, and at Cairo University in Giza.
Large crowds were again gathered at the mosque on Monday as William Burns, the US deputy secretary of state, visited.
“Get out, Sisi,” some shouted, referring to the head of the armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who oversaw the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi.
William Burns met interim President Adly Mansour and Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi, as well as Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
He described the events of the last two weeks as a “second chance to realize the promise of the revolution” that ended the authoritarian presidency of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
William Burns called on the military to avoid “politically motivated arrests”, saying the US remained committed to an Egypt that was “stable, democratic, inclusive and tolerant”.
But he insisted the US had “not come to lecture anyone. We will not try to impose our model on Egypt.”
The envoy’s comments come amid what correspondents say is an increasing antipathy towards the US among Egyptians on both sides of the political divide.
The US has stopped short of calling the army intervention a coup – doing so would trigger a legal stop of the some $1.5 billion in the mostly military aid it sends to the country each year.
But it has called for Mohamed Morsi to be released. He is being held at an undisclosed location and is being investigated on charges including inciting violence. A number of Brotherhood members have been arrested and warrants have been issued for many more.
William Burns said he planned to meet religious and civilian leaders, the heads of political parties and business figures during his two-day visit.
But both the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour party and the Tamarod anti-Morsi protest movement turned down invitations to meet William Burns, while the Muslim Brotherhood also said it had no plans to see him.
“Such kind of visit doesn’t mean anything for us because we believe that America supported this military coup,” said Dina Zakaria, a member of the Brotherhood and its political wing the Freedom and Justice Party.
Islam Hammam, a Tamarod organizer, said the movement had turned down the invitation to talks with William Burns “because the United States did not stand with the Egyptian people from the beginning.”
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At least 34 Egyptians have been killed in a shooting incident in Cairo, say officials and the Muslim Brotherhood, amid continuing unrest over the removal of President Mohamed Morsi.
The Muslim Brotherhood says its members were fired on while they were holding a sit-in at a Presidential Guard barrack.
But the army said a “terrorist group” had tried to storm the barracks.
Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist and Egypt’s first freely elected president, was ousted by the army last week after mass protests.
Dozens of people have been killed since the unrest began last weekend.
Mohamed Morsi is believed to be held at the Presidential Guard Club, in the eastern Nasr City district of the capital.
His supporters – many of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement he comes from – have been staging a sit-in there demanding his reinstatement.
After Monday morning’s violence, the hardline Salafist Nour party – which had supported Mohamed Morsi’s removal – said it was withdrawing from talks to choose an interim prime minister, describing the shooting incident as a “massacre”.
There were conflicting reports from Cairo over how the violence had unravelled in the early hours of Monday morning.
At least 34 Egyptians have been killed in a shooting incident in Cairo amid continuing unrest over the removal of President Mohamed Morsi
The Muslim Brotherhood said the army raided its sit-in at about 04:00 as protesters were performing dawn prayers.
The Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political wing – which took nearly half the seats in last year’s historic election – called on Egyptian’s to stage an “uprising” in response to the incident, against “those trying to steal their revolution with tanks”.
It also urged “the international community and international groups and all the free people of the world to intervene to stop further massacres” and to stop Egypt becoming “a new Syria”.
But in a statement read on state media, the army blamed the shooting on “an armed terrorist group” that had tried to storm the barracks.
It said an army officer was among those killed and that a number of others were wounded, some critically.
The statement said some 200 people had been arrested and were found to have weapons, ammunition and petrol bombs.
TV channels broadcast images of dead and injured people being taken to a makeshift hospital in the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, where Brotherhood supporters have been based.
Nour party spokesman Nadder Bakkar said Nour had “decided to withdraw immediately from all negotiations in response to the massacre”.
Though the Islamist party had backed the army-led “roadmap” to new elections, it had been wary of the Muslim Brotherhood becoming isolated.
It had blocked the appointment of two potential prime ministers it thought would not include the movement in the political process.
Mohamed Morsi was replaced on Thursday by Adly Mansour – the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court. He has pledged to hold elections soon, but has as yet given no date for them.
The army has insisted it does not want to remain in power.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of both supporters and opponents of Mohamed Morsi rallied in many Egyptian cities.
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Tens of thousands of protesters are on the streets of Egyptian cities in rival shows of force by supporters and opponents of Mohamed Morsi, ousted as president by the military last week.
Mohamed Morsi’s supporters have gathered outside a mosque and a barracks in Cairo to demand his reinstatement.
Anti-Morsi protesters are rallying in the capital’s Tahrir Square.
Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first Islamist president, is in detention, along with some senior Muslim Brotherhood figures.
He was replaced on Thursday by Adly Mansour – the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court – who promised to hold elections soon but gave no date.
The military has deployed troops in Cairo and other locations. More than 30 people were killed and about 1,000 people injured across Egypt in protests on Friday.
Mohamed Morsi’s supporters have been camped outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo for more than a week. On Sunday, thousands marched from the mosque to the barracks of the Presidential Guard, where they believe Mohamed Morsi is being held.
Another group of pro-Morsi marchers are heading for the ministry of defense.
Tens of thousands of protesters are on the streets of Egyptian cities in rival shows of force by supporters and opponents of Mohamed Morsi
Tamarod, the opposition movement whose name means “rebel” in Arabic, called on its supporters to rally in Tahrir Square and at the Ittihadiya presidential palace.
Egypt military planes flew overhead, trailing plumes of smoke in red, white and black, the colors of the national flag.
There is still no word on whether pro-reform leader Mohamed Elbaradei has been appointed as interim prime minister.
Tamarod has tweeted that it will not accept anyone except Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate and former head of the UN nuclear agency, as prime minister.
However, the ultra-conservative Salafist al-Nour party is said to be unhappy with Mohamed ElBaradei, whom its members view as too secular.
In other developments, plain-clothes police raided the main office of al-Jazeera’s Arabic TV channel in Cairo on Sunday and arrested the bureau chief.
Abdel Fattah Fayed is accused of operating an unlicensed channel and broadcasting reports that had a negative impact on national security.
Meanwhile, 11 activists have been acquitted of inciting violence and destroying public property, the Egyptian state news agency Mena reported.
The group – which included the blogger Ahmed Douma – was facing charges relating to clashes with Muslim Brotherhood supporters outside the organization’s headquarters in March.
Tamarod – which organized the recent anti-Morsi protests – had accused the ousted president of pursuing an Islamist agenda against the wishes of most Egyptians, and of failing to tackle economic problems.
The US and other Western countries have expressed concern over Mohamed Morsi’s removal, and have called for reconciliation and speedy elections.
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Egypt’s new president, Adly Mahmud Mansour, says pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei has not yet been appointed as interim prime minister despite earlier reports.
A spokesman for interim President Adly Mansour said consultations were continuing.
Officials had earlier named Mohamed ElBaradei – a former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog – for the post.
News of his appointment had been criticized by the Salafist Nour Party, which said it would not work with him.
Egypt’s new president, Adly Mahmud Mansour, says pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei has not yet been appointed as interim prime minister despite earlier reports
It came three days after the army removed Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi following growing public unrest.
The appointment of Mohamed ElBaradei caused anger among supporters of Mphamed Morsi, who want to see him returned to power.
“Interim President Adly Mansour met today with Dr. ElBaradei but so far there has been no official appointment,” Agence France-Presse news agency quoted presidential advisor Ahmed al-Muslimani as saying.
But he added that Mohamed ElBaradei was “the logical choice” among a list of names being considered, the news agency said.
Mohamed ElBaradei and other party leaders attended a meeting called by Adly Mansour on Saturday.
He leads an alliance of liberal and left-wing parties, the National Salvation Front.
Prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has been named as Egypt’s interim prime minister.
Mohamed ElBaradei was appointed following crisis talks led by President Adly Mahmud Mansour – three days after the army removed Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi amid growing nationwide unrest.
The move has in turn triggered mass unrest by supporters of Mohamed Morsi.
Prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has been named as Egypt’s interim prime minister
Mohamed ElBaradei – a former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog – is expected to be sworn in later on Saturday.
He and other party leaders attended a meeting called by Adly Mahmud Mansour on Saturday.
Mohamed ElBaradei leads an alliance of liberal and left-wing parties, the National Salvation Front.
More than 30 people died and about 1,000 were wounded in Friday’s protests by Islamist supporters of the deposed president.
The Muslim Brotherhood – to which Mohamed Morsi belongs – has said its followers would remain on the streets until he is restored to office.
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At least 12 people have died in Alexandria and three in Cairo in clashes between supporters and opponents of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, reports say.
The violence came after three pro-Morsi demonstrators were killed by security forces in another part of the capital.
Troops later restored calm in Cairo, but nationwide violence left some 26 dead and 318 injured, officials said.
The army removed Mohamed Morsi from power on Wednesday after millions of people protested over his leadership.
Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, is in detention, as are some senior figures of his Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Early on Saturday, state media reported the Brotherhood’s deputy leader Khairat el-Shater had been arrested at his Cairo home on suspicion of incitement to violence.
The Tamarod [Rebel] movement – which organized recent anti-Morsi protests – accused the ousted president of pursuing an Islamist agenda against the wishes most Egyptians, and of failing to tackle economic problems.
The US State Department issued a condemnation of Friday’s violence and called for all leaders to put a stop to any further aggression.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also expressed alarm at the violence, saying that it was for the people of Egypt to determine the way forward – and all people, including women, needed to be part of that process.
Most of those killed during fighting in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, died from gunshot wounds, said Amr Nasr, head of emergency services in the city.
He told the official Mena news agency that 200 people were injured during clashes in Egypt’s second-largest city.
At least 12 people have died in Alexandria and three in Cairo in clashes between supporters and opponents of ousted President Mohamed Morsi
Earlier, after midday prayers, Islamist supporters of Mohamed Morsi staged a series of marches across Cairo – including outside Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque where tens of thousands massed.
Tensions escalated when a crowd advanced on the nearby headquarters of the Republican Guard, where Mohamed Morsi is believed to be held.
Troops then opened fire on crowds. Three people were killed and dozens wounded, including BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen whose head was grazed by shotgun pellets.
In the evening, tens of thousands of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood filled the square near the mosque, as well as nearby streets.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme leader, Mohammed Badie, told the crowd: “We shall stay in the squares until we bring President Morsi back to power.”
He said their protests would remain peaceful and called on the army not to “direct your arms against us”.
Shortly afterwards, the Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters surged across the 6th October Bridge over the Nile river, towards Tahrir Square where anti-Morsi protesters were gathered.
The rival groups hurled fireworks and stones at each other. A car was set on fire and stones and fireworks were thrown.
Late on Friday, tanks arrived at the bridge to separate the clashing protesters and the violence died down.
There were clashes in other parts of Egypt on Friday.
Islamist attacks on the Sinai peninsula left five police and one soldier dead.
One protester was killed in the central city of Assiut, and AFP news agency reported another death in Minya.
In Qina in the south, troops opened fire on pro-Morsi activists trying to storm a security building. At least two people were injured.
Firing was also reported in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya.
Ahead of Friday’s protests, the army command said it would not take “arbitrary measures against any faction or political current” and would guarantee the right to protest, as long as demonstrations did not threaten national security.
“Peaceful protest and freedom of expression are rights guaranteed to everyone, which Egyptians have earned as one of the most important gains of their glorious revolution,” it said.
On Thursday the head of Egypt’s constitutional court, Adly Mahmud Mansour, was sworn in as interim head of state, and he promised to hold elections soon.
On Friday Adly Mahmud Mansour dissolved the upper house – or Shura Council – which had been dominated by Mohamed Morsi supporters and had served as sole legislative body after the lower house was dissolved last year.
Adly Mahmud Mansour also appointed a new intelligence chief, Mohamed Ahmed Farid.
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