Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi called for protests on Friday, and Egyptians prayed there would be no repeat of clashes that killed more than 90 people in the last week and left the Arab world’s biggest nation bitterly divided.
Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement wants people to join it on the streets to push for Egypt’s first freely elected leader to be reinstated, an aim that now seems in vain.
Officials say Mursi is still being held at the Republican Guard compound in Cairo, where troops killed 53 Islamist protesters on Monday in a clash that intensified anger his allies already felt at the military’s decision to oust him.
Four soldiers were also killed in a battle the military says was started by terrorists. Mursi’s supporters say those who died were praying peacefully when troops opened fire.
Egypt’s 84 million people have been shocked by the shootings, graphic images of which have appeared on state and private news channels and social media.
The incident came just three days after 35 people were killed in clashes between pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators across the country.
