Nancy A. Youssef and Amina Ismail
McClatchy
August 16, 2013
Cairo erupted into fierce street battles between supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi outraged over the deaths of hundreds at sits ins earlier this week, local residents and security forces, sending bullets flying all over the city and turning one of the world’s largest capitals into a quasi battlefield.
Abandoned highways and bridges were peppered with burnt cars, blockades and Army tanks, as Morsi supporters, largely Islamists, marched in what they called a “Day of Rage” against Wednesday’s unprecedented government crackdown which killed at 638 and injured thousands. But the various protests could never gain momentum as they were always confronted by repeated gunfire, forcing them to disperse.
Morsi supporters charged that either police or military personnel were shooting at them from helicopters. And the military, which already has reinstated a state of emergency and curfew, told residents early evening there would be consequences for staying past curfew.
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