Before dawn on Monday morning, the Egyptian army opened fire on a crowd of protesters gathered outside the Republican Guard building in Cairo where ousted President Mohamed Morsi may be being held, leaving at least 51 protesters and three soldiers dead. The clash—the deadliest incident since the 2011 revolution that toppled Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak—came as the army moved to clear the days-old sit-in protesting the removal of Morsi last Wednesday. The army has claimed that they were fired upon first; protesters say the army opened fire without cause, just after morning prayers.
The clash left more than 300 wounded and lasted more than three hours, with protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails as the military returned fire. Many of the wounded were brought to a field hospital near the Rabaa al-Adaweya Mosque, the site of another pro-Morsi sit-in where more protests reportedly were planned for later Monday. Outside of the emergency wards that have handled the wounded, dozens have lined up to donate blood.
Here are photos from the aftermath of the violence:
Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood stand next to the bodies of fellow protesters killed in clashes with Republican Guards forces, at a hospital morgue in Cairo.
An Egyptian doctor attends to a man who was killed after clashes near Republication Guard headquarters around the Raba El-Adwyia Mosque Square in the Nasr City suburb of Cairo. The Muslim Brotherhood says its members were staging a pro-Morsi sit-in at the barracks, where he is believed to be in detention, when they were fired on. But the army said a ”terrorist group” had tried to storm the barracks.
An Egyptian doctor holds bullet shell casings after clashes near Republication Guard headquarters around the Raba El-Adwyia Mosque Square in the Nasr City suburb of Cairo.
Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood stand next to the bodies of fellow protesters killed in clashes with Republican Guards forces, at a hospital morgue in Cairo.
A man checks the list of the dead and injured posted at a hospital treating those wounded in Monday’s clashes between Morsi supporters and the Egyptian Army.