July 7, 2013 -- Updated 1342 GMT (2142 HKT)
Egyptian protesters are planning to meet in the streets again Sunday, where, for weeks, arguments have turned to clashes. FULL STORY
Despite deaths and injuries, Egyptians to take to the streets again
July 7, 2013 -- Updated 1550 GMT (2350 HKT)
Supporters of deposed Egyptian
President Mohamed Morsy pray next to the headquarters of the Republican
Guards in Cairo on Saturday, July 6, during the funeral of seven people
killed during clashes. Egyptian protesters planned to meet in the
streets again Sunday, where, for weeks, arguments have turned to
clashes. More than 30 people have died and 1,400 suffered injuries since
Wednesday's coup. View photos of protests that erupted before the coup.
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Egypt after the coup
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Egypt's military says it's stepping up security; warns against attacks at protests
- NEW: Some accuse authorities of having plans to incite violence
- Supporters and opponents of overthrown President Mohamed Morsy plan to protest Sunday
- At least 30 have died in violent clashes
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Reza Sayah, Ian Lee, Becky Anderson and Karl Penhaul are reporting from Egypt. Are you in Egypt? Send us your experiences, but please stay safe.
Cairo (CNN) -- Egyptian protesters are planning to meet in the streets again Sunday, where, for weeks, arguments have turned to clashes.
Rocks have flown, knives have flashed and gunfire has cracked through the air, leaving bodies on the ground.
More than 30 people have died and 1,400 have suffered injuries since Wednesday's coup.
Supporters of the deposed
president, Mohamed Morsy, and the Muslim Brotherhood will rally Sunday
to demand his reinstatement. Some of them took a vow Saturday before a
cleric to die for their cause, if need be.
Some appeared to be bracing for violence.
Egypt's military said in a statement that it was stepping up security efforts for the demonstrations.
"We also warn against any
provocation or clashes with the peaceful demonstrators," the statement
said. "Anyone who violates these instructions will be dealt with firmly
in accordance with the law."
Meanwhile, the Muslim
Brotherhood's political party vowed that protests would be peaceful and
accused authorities of planning to send fake bearded men into Cairo's
Tahrir Square to incite violence.
"This is so they can
claim that the supporters of the elected-president and the Islamic
groups are attacking the peaceful demonstrators. ... We warn those who
play with fire that any sectarian incitement at this critical time will
not be in the interests of anyone in our beloved Egypt," the Freedom and
Justice Party said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
Human Rights Watch called for the country's military and political leaders to do more to stop the bloodshed.
"All sides need to tell
their followers to refrain from actions likely to lead to violence and
loss of life," Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director
at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "At the same time, the
security forces need to show that they can act professionally and
effectively to stop the violence without resorting to unlawful lethal
force."
After Morsy was deposed,
authorities arrested him and are holding him at an undisclosed
location. His supporters believe he is being held at the Republican
Guards complex and have targeted it with their marches.
On Friday, five of them
died there, after security opened fire. On Saturday, members of the
Muslim Brotherhood filed past the building with the coffins of those
killed on their shoulders.
Violence erupts in Sinai
Mohamed ElBaradei: Morsy messed up
ElBaradei: We need to work together
Clashes in Egypt turn deadly
Egyptian military takes CNN camera
In the lawless desert of
the Sinai, where al Qaeda affiliates have long had a foothold, violent
attacks erupted after Morsy's removal.
On Sunday, armed men
blew up a pipeline transporting natural gas to Jordan, an ally of Israel
and the United States, said a senior Egyptian intelligence officer, who
asked not to be named.
Such attacks had ceased when Morsy was president. Before that, armed groups destroyed pipelines every few months, he said.
State-run EgyNews
reported Sunday that three police officers in northern Sinai were shot
and wounded while on duty when someone in an unmarked car fired shots at
them and sped away.
It is unclear whether the attacks were a reaction to events in Cairo.
Morsy's opponents -- who
got what they wanted when the military toppled him in a coup Wednesday
-- will protest "to finalize the great victory" they started on June 30,
activist group Tamarod said.
Egyptian police are
finishing the work the military started, taking into custody the
Brotherhood's leaders. Officers continue to follow up on hundreds of
arrest warrants.
Tamarod was quick to
nominate its candidate, Mohamed ElBaradei, for the office of prime
minister, but a swearing-in announced for Saturday didn't happen.
Tamarod spokesman
Mahmoud Badr told Egypt's OTV on Sunday that the presidency had tapped
ElBaradei to form the new government, but then retracted the offer after
objections from the conservative al-Nour party.
ElBaradei is known
around the world as the former head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency,
the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He was to appear Sunday
in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, but canceled it along with
all other media interviews, his office said.
The "second revolution"
Wednesday's coup was the
culmination of weeks of efforts by Morsy's opponents to push him out.
They said 22 million people had signed petitions calling for him to step
down -- more than had voted for him in the 2012 election -- and
followed up with days of protests that attracted massive crowds.
Morsy's supporters countered with rallies in favor of his government. At times, bloody clashes ensued. Dozens were killed.
Last Monday, the
military issued a 48-hour ultimatum demanding that Morsy form a
power-sharing government with his opponents. The end of Morsy's rule
came on Wednesday, when his conciliatory gestures failed to placate the
military.
Egypt's experience with
democratic governance was short for a country whose history can be
measured in millennia. "Either we risk a civil war or ... take extra
constitutional measures to ensure that we keep the country together,"
said ElBaradei, explaining the military's conundrum. "This is a recall,
and it is nothing novel."
But Morsy failed to fix
the nation's ailing economy or stop spiraling crime, both of which
worsened during his tenure. He was seen by many as increasingly
autocratic.
Human Rights Watch has
said he had perpetuated abusive practices that Mubarak had established,
molding them to his own purposes and adding to them. These included the
trial of civilians by military courts, the permitting of police
brutality and the suppression of critical voices.
Adly Mansour, head of the country's Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in Thursday as interim president.
He dissolved Egypt's
upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, and appointed a new head
of intelligence, state TV said Friday.
The Egyptian army has promised a path to new elections.
Egypt is pivotal
In Washington, a State
Department spokeswoman on Friday condemned the violence following
Morsy's ouster and called on the military to respect the will of the
people, but did not call for Morsy's reinstatement.
"The voices of all who
are protesting peacefully must be heard -- including those who welcomed
the events of earlier this week and those who supported President
Morsy," spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said. "The Egyptian people must come
together to resolve their differences peacefully, without recourse to
violence or the use of force."
Sen. John McCain,
R-Arizona, called Friday for the suspension of U.S. aid to Egypt's
military, which exceeds $1 billion per year.
"We cannot repeat the
same mistakes that we made at other times in our history by supporting
the removal of freely elected governments," the ranking member of the
Senate Committee on Armed Services told CNN affiliate KNXV. Once the
military sets a timetable for elections and a new constitution, "then we
should evaluate whether to continue the aid," he said.
Egypt is the most
populous Arab country in the world and has long been a close ally of the
United States, which supported it with military aid even during
Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship.
It controls the Suez Canal, a crucial sea route used by more than 4% of the world's oil traffic and 8% of its seaborne trade.
With Jordan, it is one of two Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel.
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Salma Abdelaziz Reza
Sayah and Karl Penhaul reported from Cairo; Ben Brumfield and Chelsea J.
Carter wrote from Atlanta; Schams Elwazer, Adam Makary, Ali Younes and
Jill Dougherty contributed to this report.
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