CAIRO– The ministry statement accused protesters of using firearms and Molotov cocktails to “attack citizens and police,” some of whom, it claimed, had been seriously injured.
Egyptian security forces arrested 122 Muslim Brotherhood members during Friday rallies staged by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, the arrests were made in the provinces of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Fayoum, Ismailia and Qena.
While eyewitnesses said that ten pro-Morsi demonstrators had been killed during Friday’s rallies, the Interior Ministry confirmed only two deaths.
The ministry statement accused protesters of using firearms and Molotov cocktails to “attack citizens and police,” some of whom, it claimed, had been seriously injured.
Friday’s rallies were called by the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, a coalition of Islamist groups that demand Morsi’s reinstatement.
Last week, the military-backed government officially designated the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails, as a “terrorist group.”
The move came one day after a deadly bombing struck a security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, killing 16 people, mostly policemen.
The Brotherhood, however, has denied any involvement in the attack, which it denounced as an “act of terror.”
For the last 190 days, pro-democracy protesters have staged daily rallies to denounce what they describe as the July 3 “military coup” against Morsi and demand his reinstatement.
