Shotguns, petrol bombs and rocks: Scores of protesters storm Muslim Brotherhood HQ in Cairo
Opponents of President Mohamed Morsi have attempted to storm the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, the organization’s spokesman said. Two people have been killed in the clashes.
Violence had been widely anticipated ahead of Sunday’s multi-million-strong countrywide
protests against the president on the anniversary of his
inauguration, demanding his resignation.
Gehad El-Haddad, the spokesman for the Brotherhood, which
nominated Morsi as its candidate ahead of last year’s elections,
said several dozen protesters shot at the windows with shotguns,
and threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at the building, which had
been fortified in recent weeks.
El-Haddad said the attackers were successfully repelled.
Millions took to the streets on Sunday to demand the resignation
of President Mohamed Morsi on the first anniversary of his
inauguration. "It is the biggest protest in Egypt's
history," a military source told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
Regional offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its political affiliate, the Freedom and Justice Party, have come under a barrage of attacks over the past week. At least seven people – including an American bystander – have been killed during the torchings, with an estimated 600 suffering injuries.
Police, who have persistently feuded with Morsi, and have mostly ignored his instructions in recent weeks (news reports showed some police officers joining anti-government demonstrations on Sunday) said they had no intention of safeguarding Brotherhood buildings, due to “a lack of manpower.”
#MB HQ office in #Moqatam under attack by 150+ unrecognisable thugs w/ Molotov cocktail, Cartouche & stones. pic.twitter.com/9Dy22iklpw
— Gehad El-Haddad (@gelhaddad) June 30, 2013
A man has been killed, and two dozen people injured in a scuffle between anti-Morsi and pro-Morsi supporters in the Nile city of Beni Suef, according to security sources.
Earlier on Sunday, anti-Morsi activists ransacked the local Muslim Brotherhood office, and tried to break into a school, claiming the Islamist movement used it to store weapons.
The Health Ministry has said seven people were killed and
hundreds were wounded in clashes across the country on Sunday.
