Morsi backers defy Egyptian police with fresh rallies

Islamist backers of Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi staged defiant rallies Friday and clashed with police in Cairo, after the government ordered their protest camps to be broken up. Police fired tear gas and then birdshot at roughly 1,000 protesters who tried to set up a new protest camp outside a large compound housing television stations. The clashes erupted as US Under Secretary William Burns landed in Cairo, the latest international envoy on a mission to press Morsi's backers and the interim government to resolve the standoff peacefully. Morsi supporters began to march after Friday prayers, pouring out of several Cairo mosques. The afternoon rallies had passed off peacefully, with demonstrators marching along main thoroughfares in the capital. The protest outside the media production city descended into mayhem when police fired tear gas on protesters who had set up tents and brick fortifications outside the compound. The protesters responded with stones. A security source said protesters had "tried to storm" the compound, but protesters said police fired tear gas when they tried to camp out outside the compound. Protesters tore up the pavement to make barriers as police in armoured vehicles fired barrages of tear gas, an AFP correspondent said, adding that a protester was carried away with birdshot wounds to the leg. "I am a Muslim, not a terrorist," demonstrators chanted. An interior ministry statement accused the protesters of firing birdshot, wounding a conscript, and said police arrested 31 demonstrators. Witnesses also reported clashes between residents in the Alf Maskan area and Morsi loyalists after they tried to set up a protest site. Morsi supporters also announced Friday evening marches to four security buildings in Cairo, including two army headquarters. The latest unrest came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to defend Morsi's ouster. "The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descendance into chaos, into violence," Kerry told Pakistan's Geo television. "And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgement -- so far. To run the country, there's a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy." A spokesman for Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood denounced Kerry's comments, accusing Washington of being "complicit" in the coup. "Is it the job of the army to restore democracy?" asked Gehad al-Haddad in a statement. Morsi's supporters have remained defiant in the face of mounting threats from the army-installed interim government. The interior ministry has urged those dug in at protest sites in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares "to let reason and the national interest prevail, and to quickly leave". State-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, quoting police sources, reported that police had prepared a plan to end the sit-ins, but had not decided when to implement it as the cabinet was still hoping for a peaceful resolution. Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei called for a halt to violence. "What we need to do right now number one, of course, is to make sure that we stop the violence," ElBaradei told the Washington Post. "Once we do that, we immediately have to go into a dialogue to ensure that the Brotherhood understand that Mr. Morsi failed. But that doesn't mean that the Brotherhood should be excluded in any way." The stand-off has raised fears of new violence. More than 250 people have been killed since Morsi's ouster. Diplomatic efforts to avoid further bloodshed have gathered pace. Burns's visit comes on the heels of trips by the European Union's Middle East envoy Bernardino Leon and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. A senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political arm, said the European envoys had asked them to end their sit-ins. Amnesty International on Friday demanded an investigation into allegations that Morsi's supporters tortured opponents in Cairo near their protest camps. It said opponents of the Islamist leader reported being "captured, beaten, subjected to electric shocks or stabbed by individuals loyal to the former President." Morsi has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offences when he broke out of prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Prosecutors have also referred three top Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including supreme guide Mohamed Badie, for prosecution on allegations of inciting the deaths of demonstrators. Morsi was detained hours after the coup and is being held at an undisclosed location, where his family has been unable to see him.EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met Morsi on Tuesday and said he was "well".