- Title: EGYPT: Mursi supporters exchange gunfire with security forces inside Cairo mosque
- Date: 17th August 2013
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (AUGUST 17, 2013) (REUTERS) PEOPLE INSIDE MOSQUE, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE CROWDS AT ENTRANCE TO MOSQUE, SMOKE IN THE AIR VARIOUS OF CORRIDOR, EGYPTIAN SECURITY FORCES OUTSIDE TRYING TO GET THROUGH BARRICADE MADE OF CHAIRS, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE PAN TO ANOTHER ENTRANCE WHERE POLICE ARE TRYING TO ENTER, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE VARIOUS OF POLICE FORCES AT ENTRANCE TO MOSQUE HOLDING WEAPONS, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE VARIOUS OF CROWDS OUTSIDE MOSQUE CHEERING FOR ARMY CROWDS OUTSIDE MOSQUE FENCE, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE
- Embargoed: 1st September 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt
- City:
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA9DZ13Q22TS8FPLTUCOZPQRHON
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi exchanged gunfire with security forces inside a Cairo mosque on Saturday (August 17), three Reuters witnesses said.
Security forces entered the Fateh mosque and tried to break through makeshift barricades set up inside the building, where hundreds of Mursi supporters have been taking refuge since protests turned violent on Friday (August 16).
Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood has said it is committed to peaceful resistance to the army-backed government which toppled him. But a Brotherhood spokesman said this week that anger was out of control because of a bloody security crackdown.
Tensions started to run high when a woman wearing a niqab - the full head to toe black veil - tried to walk out of the mosque, said a Reuters witness.
A group of about 10 soldiers had been telling people to leave the mosque and that they would be in no danger.
When the woman approached them, people in the mosque could be overheard saying she was the wife of a Brotherhood leader and was in danger of being arrested. She walked back into the mosque, looked up and said something to a group of pro-Mursi gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
That is when the shooting started. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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