At least 65 killed during pro-Morsi rallies in Cairo

Egypt health ministry ambulances in Cairo on Saturday morning Cairo – Akram Ali, Al Deeb Abu Ali, Hanaa Bayyoumi, Mohammed Al Dawi At least 65 people were killed during clashes in Cairo early Saturday, Egypt\'s health ministry said, after violence erupted at a demonstration in support of ousted president Mohammed Morsi. The ministry said nine others died in violence in Egypt\'s second city Alexandria, putting the toll in two days of unrest at 74.
The ministry added that about 708 people were injured nationwide, 239 in Cairo and 469 in the other Egyptian governorates.
Health Insurance Authority head Abdel-Rahman el-Sakka claimed that the authority\'s main hospital in Nasr City could confirm 20 deaths and 144 injuries. He added that 34 individuals were allowed to leave the hospital, but the remaining 101 were still on the treatment table.
Director of the hospital, Dr Mahmoud Mostafa said that the casualties had injuries varying from gunshots, birdshots, cuts, bruises, and gas inhalation. ?
Deputy manager of el-Demerdash Hospital, Abbasseya, Cairo, Dr Ahmed Saafan, said five people died at the hospital, and 39 were being treated with serious injuries.
The Cairo bloodshed was the bloodiest since Morsi\'s ouster in a military-led coup on July 3 and prompted domestic and international condemnation, as protesters accused security forces of using live ammunition.
Ahmed Aref, a spokesman for Morsi\'s Muslim Brotherhood, said 66 people were killed at Cairo\'s Rabaa al-Adaweya mosque where supporters of the ousted president have been camped since July 3 to demand his reinstatement.
Earlier, Egypt\'s Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim denied reports that security forces had turned their guns on protesters, saying firearms had not been used when it intervened to break up clashes between Morsi-supporters from the Rabaa al-Adaweya and residents on Nasr Road.
During a press conference on Saturday, the minister accused the Muslim Brotherhood of political point-scoring, and urged all groups to come together in the national interest. He warned that a long-running sit-in by Morsi loyalists at Rabaa al-Adaweya would be ended following a night of protests by hundreds of thousands of the Islamist\'s supporters and opponents.
Ibrahim disclosed that 73 individuals in possession of weapons had been arrested during the demonstrations. He added that three people were killed in Rabaa al-Adaweya, and that security personnel had only used teargas to restore calm.
The minister refused to comment on Morsi\'s imprisonment, saying that the public prosecutor had made the decision to detain the ex-president for 15 days. Ibrahim assured the people of Egypt that the ministry is doing all it could to bring an end to the violence across the country.
The military-backed interior minister said that the situation in Sinai had detriorated due to the tense security situation nationwide.
The army ousted Morsi on July 3 after nationwide protests demanding his removal.
Tens of thousands of supporters from his Muslim Brotherhood movement have since been camped outside the mosque in the Nasr City district of Cairo, in a defiant bid to get him reinstated.
Doctors at the field hospital said at least 1000 were also wounded in clashes with police on the road to Cairo\'s international airport on Saturday morning.
The health ministry said 177 people were wounded.
A Brotherhood leader, Murad Ali, told AFP that police had fired live rounds, but the official MENA news agency cited a security official it did not identify as denying the police used any live bullets.
Running battles broke out at dawn on the airport road, with police firing tear gas at stone-throwing protesters, MENA said. Buckshot was fired, but it was unclear from which side.
The bloodshed came as the interim interior minister said the military-backed government would move swiftly to break up the Islamist protest camp in Nasr City.
\"There will be decisions from the prosecutor soon, and this situation will be ended,\" Ibrahim told satellite television channel al-Hayat.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who orchestrated the coup, had called for a mass show of support on Friday for a crackdown on \"terrorism\".
Hundreds of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters obliged and gathered in Cairo\'s Tahrir Square and around the Itihadiya presidential palace.
On Saturday morning, interim president Adly Mansour called on Morsi supporters demonstrating in Rabaa el-Adaweya Square to go home, promising they will not be arrested. He also praised Friday’s mass demonstrations, saying the Egyptian people had reached a level of great political awareness.
The veteran judge seemed satisfied that the mass rallies had confirmed the legitimacy of the interim government, calling on those who dismissed the July 3 ouster of Morsi as a coup to \"Look at the TV and foreign news agencies...These are Egyptians before you... Is this a coup or the will of the people?”
He also called on the institutions of the Egyptian state to meet the demands of the Egyptian people.
In an apparent reference to Muslim Brotherhood supporters, who strongly oppose the recent change of government, Mansour called for the inclusion of all Egyptians, saying if political opponents “want to enter into Egyptian society then I welcome them, and we will try to forget our differences and divisions”.
But he said that those who committed violations against the people would not be tolerated.
The interim leader condemned Egypt’s current state of insecurity and said the state would deal strictly with those working to harm the interests of the state.
Referring to militant attacks in the northern Sinai Peninsula, Mansour said: “God willing the Egyptian state will deal strongly with the terrorism in Sinai. They are surrounded.”
Meanwhile, the grand imam of al-Azhar, which is Sunni Islam’s top authority, condemned the death of dozens of Morsi supporters and called for an investigation into the incident.
\"The sheikh of al-Azhar deplores and condemns the deaths of a number of martyrs who were victims of today’s events,\" Ahmed al-Tayyeb said in a statement released on Saturday.
He added that there must be an \"urgent judicial investigation\" and punishment of those responsible \"regardless of their affiliation.\"