JOIN USEgypt was on edge today as security forces besieged a mosque with over 1,000 supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi inside, even as the Muslim Brotherhood called for fresh protests after the death of nearly 100 people in fierce street battles.
Scores of security personnel in riot gear surrounded the Al-Fateh mosque, where protesters took those killed and wounded in yesterday's clashes.
The Muslim Brotherhood has established a makeshift field hospital in the mosque near Ramses Square in central Cairo, the latest flashpoint in a growing crisis.
Some security personnel entered the mosque to negotiate with protesters and reportedly offered to allow women to leave the mosque but said men would be held for questioning. The Brotherhood rejected the proposal.
As the stand-off continued, live television pictures showed a small group of women being escorted out of the mosque.
Two protesters inside the mosque were quoted by BBC as saying they did not trust the authorities' promises of a safe exit.
They said there were two bodies inside, one of a woman who died after teargas was fired by police into the mosque overnight and another of a man taken into the building after sustaining bullet wounds.
They said the protesters had drinking water but there was only one toilet. Security officials quoted by the official MENA news agency claimed "armed elements" had opened fire from inside the mosque. They said people were being prevented from leaving the mosque by protesters.
But other media reports said that people trapped inside the mosque were afraid to leave because they believed they would be attacked by plainclothes "thugs" aligned with the military.
At least 95 people were killed and hundreds injured yesterday in Cairo and other cities as security forces clashed with Morsi's supporters, who took to the streets after Friday prayers to protest the killing of over 600 in a crackdown by the military-backed government on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood called for a week of protests across Egypt from today.
"Our rejection of the coup regime has become an Islamic, national and ethical obligation that we can never abandon," said the Brotherhood, which has accused Egypt's military of plotting the downfall of Morsi last month to regain the levers of power.
Egypt's interim officials say more than 1,000 Islamists were arrested after yesterday's protests, dubbed a "day of anger".
"The number of Muslim Brotherhood elements arrested reached 1,004," the interior ministry said in a statement.
The crackdown has divided Egyptians as never before in recent history, splintering the army-installed government and inviting international censure.
An interim cabinet, installed by the army after it removed Morsi during rallies against his rule, has refused to back down in the face of the protests. It has authorised police to use live ammunition to defend themselves and state installations.
Bader Abdel Atty, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry, defended the actions of the security forces in an interview with Al Jazeera, saying that protesters were armed with machine guns.
He dismissed international condemnation of the violence and said Egypt would accept no external interference.
Egypt's interim leaders have imposed a state of emergency with dusk-to-dawn curfews in the capital and other areas. The interior ministry says police have been authorised to use live ammunition "within a legal framework".
The Muslim Brotherhood has been on the streets since July 3 after the army deposed Morsi - Egypt's first democratically elected president - last month and installed an interim government.