Muslim Brotherhood calls for 'Friday of Anger' as Cairo death toll rises along with number of torched Christian buildings
Cairo (AsiaNews)
- The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) have convoked a "Friday of Anger" after
over 600 deaths in the wake of the army's decision to clear the streets of the
city from pro-Mohamed Morsi demonstrations, in favour of the former president deposed
on July 3. Meanwhile,
the number of victims from the clashes continues to grow as well as the toll of
the violence that pro-Morsi Islamists have wreaked on Christian churches, homes
and shops.
After
the Friday prayers, the MB are calling on Muslims to pour from all the mosques
of Cairo towards Ramses square. After
the recent clashes, the army has declared a state of emergency, imposing a
curfew and a mandate to shoot if government buildings are affected.
Yesterday,
Islamists killed seven soldiers in Sinai and a policeman and Assiut.
Figures
from the Ministry of Health said that at least 638 people have been killed in
recent days and there are more than 4 thousand injured. Some
mosques were turned into morgues to contain the corpses. While
the summer heat makes the air unbreathable because of the decomposing bodies, forcing
a ceaseless flow of funerals.
Today's
call to rally is spreading fear among Christians. Anti-Morsi
groups have asked their members to protect Christian churches, homes, and shops
against possible attacks.
Two
days ago, after the attack of the army against the MB sit-in, 22
churches were torched, but the Maspero youth movement says that at least 39
Christian locations were targeted. In
addition to the churches, the fundamentalists also attacked monasteries,
schools and many shops and houses inhabited by Christians. Several
homes and shops were marked with a cross, and with violent slogans, as if to
indicate them as a target for future attacks.
The
UN Security Council held an emergency meeting and asked the parties to use
"maximum restraint." President
Barack Obama has criticized the shedding of blood, and canceled joint military
exercises with the Egyptian army, but has not blocked military aid to the armed
forces.
.png)
