CAIRO, (Reuters) – One Muslim Brotherhood member was shot dead and at least 11 people wounded in Egypt yesterday, security sources said, with the Islamist group accusing plain clothes police of firing on their march.
The killing could harden the standoff between the Brotherhood, which is demanding the reinstatement of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, and the army-backed government.
Authorities have held back from clearing two Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo, and a religious authority made some progress in establishing negotiations, but the shootings and other street clashes showed Egypt remained dangerously divided.
Thousands of Mursi supporters marched to the Interior Ministry earlier in the day and were confronted by residents who threw stones and bottles and taunted them as “terrorists”. Police fired teargas at the demonstration which had brought Cairo traffic to a standstill.
“There’s no going forward with negotiations, the only way is back. Mursi must be reinstated,” said Karim Ahmed, a student in a blue hard-hat who waved a picture of Mursi as he flung rocks at a ministry building.
Things remained quiet at the two pro-Mursi protest camps despite the government’s frequent demands that protesters end a sit-in that has lasted more than six weeks.
