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One man in the crowd, however, was able to reach over the soldiers and strike a detained protester with a stick. Others chanted against Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group. The scene encapsulated the venomous mood in Cairo. The streets of Egypt's capital have become a deadly battleground between Morsi's supporters and backers of the military that overthrew him. The crisis has severed friendships and, in some cases, turned neighbor against neighbor in the city of more than 18 million people.
More than 450 people have been killed in Cairo over the past four days, just over half the country's nationwide death toll during the week of violence. Hundreds of those victims died when Egyptian security forces attacked two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo on Wednesday. How events play out in Cairo could largely determine whether Egypt can step back from the brink of chaos. Over the weekend, street battles raged throughout the metropolis, once a stable corner of the Middle East. Armed civilians and security forces fought armed Morsi supporters and protesters. People openly fired automatic rifles and pistols at one another on main overpasses and roads. Most residents cowered in their homes, many staying clear of windows and balconies.
Metro stations near protest sites are closed, and military tanks enforce an army-imposed state of emergency that grants security forces broad powers to make arrests. Residents have locked entrances to their apartment buildings, and police stations and prisons have come under attack. The city, normally bustling at all hours of the day and night, now slips into an eerie quiet interrupted at times by gunfire during an 11-hour curfew that starts at 7 p.m. The usually gridlocked streets are devoid of nighttime traffic. Vigilantes and police dressed in civilian clothes stand at makeshift roadblocks, frisking people without identifying themselves. Many brandish guns. The Interior Ministry warned civilians Sunday against breaking the curfew to man checkpoints.
Some grocery stores are running low on merchandise, with bread cleared from the shelves and residents stocking up on water and canned food. Banks opened for just three hours Sunday after being closed for four days. Others cannot see friends and family who live on opposite ends of the city because marches and protests have made road conditions unpredictable. For taxi driver Ahmed Hosni, the blocked roads, violence and curfew have choked his income. He spends his nights instead at a civilian checkpoint in the poor neighborhood of Basateen. Hosni had voted for Morsi, but a year later joined the calls for his ouster. He also took part in mass protests last month in support of military action against "potential terrorism" by the Brotherhood. He said he was upset by the bloodshed that followed. "We are living off what we have in the coming days," said the 31-year-old, who provides for his mother and siblings. "God is with us all these coming days."
More Egyptian capital becomes battle zone amid crisis
The officials said there were no longer any grounds to hold the 85-year-old former autocrat because of the expiration of a two-year legal limit for holding an individual in custody pending a final verdict. Mubarak has been in detention since April 2011. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in June last year for his failure to stop the killing of some 900 protesters in the 18-day uprising against his rule. His sentence was overturned on appeal and he is now being retried, along with his security chief and six top police commanders.
Monday's stunning announcement came as Islamic militants ambushed two mini-buses carrying off-duty policemen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, forces the men out of the vehicles and made them lie on the ground, then shot 25 of them dead. The brazen daylight attack deepened the turmoil roiling the country and underscored the volatility of the strategic region. Monday's killings, which took place near the border town of Rafah in northern Sinai, came a day after security forces killed 36 detainees during a riot on a prison-bound truck convoy north of Cairo. In all, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in violence between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi since last Wednesday. The government has ordered an investigation into their deaths.
A few hours after the attack near Rafah, suspected militants shot to death a police major as he stood guard outside a bank in the city of el-Arish, also in northern Sinai, security officials said. Tensions in Egypt have soared since the army ousted Morsi, Mubarak's successor, in a July 3 coup following days of protests by millions of Egyptians demanding the Islamist president leave and accusing him of abusing his powers. But Morsi's supporters have fought back, staging demonstrations demanding that he be reinstated and denouncing the military coup. On Wednesday, the military raided two protest camps of Morsi's supporters in Cairo, killing hundreds of people and triggering the current wave of violence.
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