Egypt's defiant Muslim Brotherhood on Thursdayset on fire local government offices as they began a march from the Al-Iman mosque in Cairo, a day after over 578 people were killed in the deadliest crackdown by security forces on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
The health ministry said the death toll from nationwide violence in Egypt has climbed to 578, making it the bloodiest day since the Arab Spring in 2011 toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising. In Cairo, the march set out from the Al-Iman mosque, where dozens of corpses of protesters clad in white shrouds were lined up before grieving relatives.
Hundreds of Morsi supporters attacked the local government offices in Giza and set them ablaze. Television footage showed the headquarters in flames as men tried to douse the fire with hoses. Assailants used Molotov bombs to burn down the building, Al Arabiya reported. "The interior ministry has instructed all forces to use live ammunition to counter any attacks on government buildings or forces," the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
There were also reports of clashes in Ma'adi, a neighbourhood in southern Cairo, between local residents and Morsi supporters, with witnesses saying both sides exchanged gunfire. In a separate statement, the cabinet accused Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of committing acts of "terrorism and vandalism".
Earlier, the Muslim Brotherhood vowed to bring down the military-backed government as it called for a massive anti-regime rally against the crackdown that, it claimed, left 2,000 people dead. "We will always be non-violent and peaceful. We remain strong, defiant and resolved," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad wrote on his Twitter feed.
"We will push (forward) until we bring down this military coup," he added. Nationwide protests erupted on Wednesday after the crackdown by security forces on supporters of 62-year-old Morsi in Cairo and elsewhere killed hundreds of people. The protesters were demanding reinstatement of Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, who was deposed by the army on July 3.
Egyptian interior ministry said that at least 43 police officers were also killed and more than 3,500 people injured during countrywide clashes on Wednesday after security forces evicted supporters of Morsi from two protest camps in Cairo. Egypt's army-backed interim Prime Minister defended the deadly operation by security forces against supporters of Morsi camped at Rabaa al-Adaweya and al-Nahda. In a televised statement, Hazem el-Beblawi on Wednesday said the decision to break up the protests "was not easy" and came only after the government had given mediation efforts a chance.
"We found that matters had reached a point that no self respecting state could accept," he said, citing what he describes as "the spread of anarchy and attacks on hospitals and police stations". Police and troops used bulldozers, teargas and live fire to clear out two Cairo sit-ins that had become a hub of Muslim Brotherhood protests against the military.
The government on Wednesday imposed a month-long emergency after riot police backed by armoured vehicles, bulldozers and helicopters cleared the two encampments of Morsi supporters. Security forces shot dead scores of people in their assault on the camps, defying international pleas to show restraint after a six-week stand-off with Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Al Jazeera news channel reported.
Vice-President Mohamed ElBaradei resigned on Wednesday, saying peaceful means could still have been found to end the confrontation, but other members of the government have rallied behind the decision to use force. ElBaradei announced his resignation saying that, "(he) can no longer bear responsibility for decisions that (he does not) agree with, and whose repercussions he dreads. (He) cannot be responsible for a single drop of blood before God, (his) conscience, and (his) people, especially that (he) believes the dropping of that blood could have been avoided."
ElBaradei's resignation sparked mixed reaction among Egyptian youth and political elite alike. Tamarrod (Rebel) movement accused ElBaradie of "quitting at a historic moment". Meanwhile, Beblawi said the emergency would be for the shortest period possible. He said that the government was committed to an army-backed road map to restore democracy.
The measure, scheduled to last for a month, also imposes a curfew in Cairo and several other provinces between 7 pm (10:30 pm IST) and 6:00 am (9:30 am IST). "There was a need for the state to intervene with an extraordinary measure which is the emergency law. God willing, we will continue. We will build our democratic, civilian state," he said.
Three journalists, including a cameraman for British broadcaster Sky News and a Dubai-based newspaper reporter, were killed and several were injured in the violence. Mick Deane, a cameraman for the UK-based Sky News channel, and Habiba Abd Elaziz, a reporter for the UAE-based Xpress newspaper, died from bullet wounds.
Egyptian journalist Ahmed Abdel Gawad, who wrote for the state-run newspaper Al Akhbar, was killed while covering the crackdown at Rabaah al-Adawiya. International condemnation of the violence was swift, with the US Secretary of State John Kerry calling it "deplorable".
The United Nations, the European Union, Britain, France, Iran, Qatar and Turkey strongly denounced the use of force by the military-backed interim government. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called on security forces to "exercise utmost restraint".
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