08/16/2013, 00.00
EGYPT - ISLAM
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Muslim Brotherhood calls for 'Friday of Anger' as Cairo death toll rises along with number of torched Christian buildings

Brotherhood members will converge from all the mosques to Ramses Square after Friday prayers. Anti-Morsi groups ready to defend Christian churches, shops and homes. Mosques full of corpses, like morgues. The condemnation of the international community.

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.

 

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