Cairo: Simultaneously with the reports coming that police have cleared Cairo's Fateh mosque of many of the anti-coup protesters trapped inside, following a day-long siege punctuated by gunfire, tear gas volleys and mob attacks, Egypt's prime minister proposed disbanding the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted President Mohammed Mursi.
Crowds outside the mosque, which were opposed to the anti-coup protesters, had also been largely dispersed after a day of tension and violence. However, a still unverified number of people remained inside, and reports suggested that clerics from the Al Azhar religious institution had arrived to mediate between those left inside and the police.
The interior ministry said 173 people died in clashes across Egypt on Friday, bringing the death toll from three days of carnage to almost 800.
Among those killed was a son of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, shot dead during a protest in Cairo's huge Ramses Square where about 95 people died in an afternoon of gunfire and mayhem on Friday.
Egyptian authorities said they had rounded up more than 1,000 Mursi supporters and surrounded Ramses Square following Friday's "Day of Rage" called by the Brotherhood to denounce a lethal crackdown on its followers on Wednesday.
The police action to clear the building came after security forces claimed to have come under attack from gunmen hiding in the building's minarets. Television footage showed security forces firing volley after volley at the building and its minarets.
The protesters inside the mosque denied any link to those firing at the police, saying there was no access to the top of the minarets from inside the building.
One man, Waleed Attar, was among a group who managed to escape the building as gunfire erupted. He told Al Jazeera: "We didn't know where the bullets were coming from."
He said they managed to flee and avoid "thugs" waiting outside. "We found our way between vehicles before the thugs could trap us, we ran for fear of being shot. Many of those trapped were being assaulted by thugs. They said we would all be slaughtered."
With anger rising on all sides, and no sign of a compromise in sight, Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi proposed the legal dissolution of the Brotherhood - a move that would force the group go underground and could lead to a broad crackdown.
"It is being studied currently," news agency Reuters wuoted government spokesman Sherif Shawky as saying.
The Brotherhood was officially dissolved by Egypt's military rulers in 1954, but registered itself as a non-governmental organisation in March in a response to a court case brought by opponents of the group who were contesting its legality.
Founded in 1928, the movement also has a legally registered political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, which was set up in 2011 after the uprising that led to the downfall of veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
"Reconciliation is there for those whose hands are not sullied with blood," Shawky added.
The Brotherhood won all five elections that followed the toppling of Mubarak, and Mursi governed the country for a year until he was undermined by mammoth rallies called by critics who denounced his rule as incompetent and partisan.
Army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi says he removed Mursi from office on July 3 to protect the country from possible civil war.
Egypt's 'day of rage' clashes leave at least 95 deadUnlike in past clashes between protesters and police, Friday's clashes took an even darker turn when residents and possibly police in civilian clothing engaged in the violence. There were few police in uniform to be seen as residents fired at one another on a bridge that crosses over Cairo's Zamalek district, an upscale island neighbourhood where many foreigners and ambassadors reside. .... More
Also Read: Army crackdown on Morsi supporters: Death toll rises to 525
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Egypt's 'day of rage' clashes leave at least 95 deadHeavy gunfire rang out on Friday throughout Cairo as tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed with armed vigilantes in the fiercest street battles since the country's Arab .... More
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