Violent clashes between Morsi supporters, the police and local residents near Ramses Square in Cairo were transformed into a tense and chaotic hours-long standoff on Friday and Saturday. The showdown focused on Fath Mosque, an ornate house of worship whose minaret looms over downtown Cairo’s Ramses Square, where several hundred Muslim Brotherhood supporters, including many injured, sought refuge.  Unwilling to allow the building to become a new de facto sit-in in support of the ousted Islamist leader, security forces surrounded the building with the intent of removing the Islamists, setting the stage for a stand-off that lasted throughout the night and into Saturday morning, when it appeared that most Morsi supporters were removed from the building. After a string of days in which security forces have killed hundreds of Islamists, reports on social media and videos posted to YouTube suggested that soldiers might have instead protected them from angry Morsi opponents gathered outside.  Reporters from Mada Masr, an English-language news Web site in Cairo, filed a dispatch from inside the mosque on Saturday.  Inside Al-Fath Mosque, turned a makeshift hospital and morgue, Mada Masr’s reporters counted as many as 45 corpses by Friday afternoon. In the early hours of Saturday, the police attempted to evacuate the mosque, which was slowly starting to turn into a Muslim Brotherhood sit-in, several privately-owned media reported. According to the state-run Middle East News Agency, the police cleared an exit for Morsi’s supporters to leave the mosque after they were searched.  However, the website of the Freedom and Justice Party, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, maintained that protesters remained inside the mosque as of late Saturday morning. Hani Nowara, a Brotherhood member trapped inside, told the portal that there are negotiations to release some people through a back gate of the mosque. He called people to come around the mosque and end the siege of “the Interior Ministry militias.”  Reporters on the ground in the late morning of Saturday say the mosque is completely surrounded by Central Security Forces and that people clinging to the windows of the mosque suggest they are trapped inside. However, later, images of people leaving the mosque from one entrance amid chants “selmeya” (peaceful), started emerging. Mada Masr saw the army shooting gunfire in the air, presumably to disperse protesters and onlookers particularly as people were exiting the mosque.  Mada Masr reported that gunfire erupted from inside the mosque’s towering minaret before the evacuation of Morsi supporters began in earnest, and security forces returned fire. Video posted by Sharif Abdel Koddous, an Egyptian-American journalist in Cairo, shows the mosque being riddled with gunfire from the security forces, which he described to The Lede as “heavy machine gun fire.”  Video posted by an Egyptian-American journalist shows the minaret of Fath Mosque being riddled with gunfire on Saturday as supporters of Mohamed Morsi hid inside.  Alastair Beach, a correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent, was inside the Fath Mosque compound during much of the long stand-off, which he described on Twitter as a “siege.” In a series of updates posted to Twitter, he said the mosque was surrounded by members of the Central Security Forces, or CSF, as well as military soldiers and men in plainclothes, who may have been plainclothes security agents or simply eager local residents.  At the Ramses siege: Dozens of CSF inside mosque compound with troops and scores of men in plain clothes  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  All gates to the mosque compound closed, manned by CSF. 100s locals pressed up against gates trying to see what is happening  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  Some of plain clothed men and youths inside compound clinging onto windows taunting the ppl trapped inside  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  The scene inside the Ramses Square mosque compound now http://t.co/fanaAkerN5  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  Paramedics just brought a body from mosque wrapped in white shawl and on a stretcher  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  Group of women just led from mosque. A woman inside compound wanted to hit them with stick, but was held back by a bloke  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  According to both Mr. Beach and Mr. Koddous, soldiers attempted to remove the Morsi supporters but were forced to retreat back into the mosque when the crowd that had gathered outside began attacking the Islamists as they exited. Mr. Beach went inside the mosque as well, and found the Morsi supporters barricaded in a back room.  The troops guarding smashed door of Ramses Square mosque. http://t.co/qHlUQaQ8jw  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  Group of 8 or 9 armed CSF applauded as they enter mosque. Two were wearing black balaclavas http://t.co/ULWFzbotfg  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  More shots fired by troops inside compound. Crowds trying to mob MB being led out  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  MB guys were hurriedly led back in after fighting broke out inside compound. Several shots fired by troops into air.  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  Troops were protecting MB guys being forced back into mosque. Crowd wanted to attack them, though some shouted “salmiya”  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  Inside Fath Mosque: Pro Morsies have barricaded themselves in room behind main prayer hall. http://t.co/03RlNGkslI  — Alastair Beach (@Alastair_Beach) 17 Aug 13  Mr. Koddous posted a series of videos to YouTube on Saturday that provide a glimpse of the tense scene at the mosque as onlookers armed with cellphone cameras mingled with Egyptian soldiers as they secured the building room by room. In text accompanying one of the videos, Mr. Koddous described the scene as “mayhem.”  Video posted to YouTube by an Egyptian-American journalist shows the scene at Fath Mosque on Saturday morning.  In another video posted by Mr. Koddous, soldiers appear to be leading Morsi supporters out of the mosque, surrounding them in a tight circle to defend them from a baying mob. At one point, a soldier fires his weapon into the air to subdue the crowd, and shortly afterward one bystander struck a bearded Morsi supporter in the head with what appeared to be a long wooden plank.  Video posted to YouTube by an Egyptian-American journalist shows soldiers leading Morsi supporters out of Fath Mosque.  Another clip posted by Mr. Koddous shows people leaving Fath Mosque, although most are unaccompanied by soldiers and it is not clear who they are. At the end, a group of men standing outside the mosque begin to energetically chant, “The army and the people are one hand,” a pro-military slogan first heard at protests after the armed forces took power from former president Mubarak in February 2011.
The Lede is following events in Egypt on Saturday, where Islamist protesters have taken to the streets again to demonstrate against the military-backed government that killed hundreds this week.