Pro and anti Morsi forces face-off near Tahrir Square Monday; video shows individuals fire shotguns; one death confirmed; army tanks interfere to stop the violent clashes; two killed in Qaliubiya clashes.
Hundreds of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi clashed late Monday afternoon with anti-Moris protesters who have holding a sit-in in Tahrir Square.
Mohamed Sultan, the head of Egypt`s Emergency Medical Services, announced that twenty-one people were injured in the clashes.
Most of the injuries were caused by gunshots.
A doctor at the Mounira Hospital, a public hospital near Tahrir, confirmed to ONTV that the hospital received one fatality.
The clashes started when pro-Morsi demonstrators approached Tahrir Square on their route to hold a protest rally at the US embassy a few blocks away.
Pro and anti Morsi forces exchanged rocks at some point as well as gunshots.
An army officer told an Ahram Online reporter at the scene that Tahrir campers charged in the direction of the Islamists, believing that the pro-Morsi march, which was headed towards the US embassy, intended to storm the Square.
A video published on El-Badil website showed several unidentified men stationed near Qasr Nil bridge shooting shotguns at protesters in Tahrir Square.
However, Hossam Bakir, the El-Badil journalist who was covering the pro-Morsi march and shot the video, told ONTV satellite station that while the Brotherhood side of the clashes began shooting gunshots the Tahrir side responded with its own.
Shortly after the clashes started, anti-Morsi organizers closed Tahrir to automobile traffic, only hours after opening parts of the area to passing cars.
Army vehicles intervened to separate the two sides.
North of the capital
Meanwhile, clashes in Egypt`s Qaliubiya province just north of Cairo between supporters and opponents of ousted president Mohamed Morsi led to the death of two eighteen year-olds by gunshots, reported Al-Ahram`s Arabic news website.
Al-Ahram quoted a top official in the ministry of health who said three others were injured – one by birdshot, two hit by train while fleeing the gunfire.
A security source also told Al-Ahram that a police officer was injured by a stone as the deposed president`s supporters attacked military and police attempting to separate the two sides.
Security, according to Al-Ahram, was able to reopen the Cairo-Alexandria agricultural road, which they said was closed for six hours by Morsi`s supporters.
A tense start to the day
Earlier in the day, Egypt`s armed forces have blocked all routes to the defense ministry in Cairo`s Abbasiya district on Monday, preventing a march by thousands of deposed president Mohamed Morsi supporters from reaching the building.
Morsi supporters continue their call for Morsi`s reinstatement, protesting against what they say was a military coup against Egypt`s first democratically-elected leader.
Limited scuffles broke out between pro-Morsi protesters and passersby who oppose the march.
Hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters have gathered at the High Court on Ramses Street, a main road in downtown Cairo. They were joined by another march by several thousands of Morsi supporters moving from the Engineers` Syndicate building on Ramses.
The rally has obstructed traffic movement on Ramses Street and the nearby 26 July Street.
On Sunday, the army also stopped two women`s marches, protesting the killing of at least three female protesters in Friday`s Mansoura clashes, from reaching their destinations in Cairo. One was headed to the defence ministry while the other to the National Council for Human Rights in Giza.
Egypt`s army deposed Morsi on 3 July following mass nationwide protests against him. Head of High Constitutional Court Adly Mansour was sworn in as interim president the next day.
The National Alliance for Legitimacy Support, a coalition of Islamist parties led by the Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hails, has been staging protests and sit-ins across Cairo and several governorates calling for Morsi`s reinstatement.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]