Two killed in Egypt dueling protests, dozens injured

• Morsi ordered detained for 15 days
• Two people killed
• Muslim Brotherhood plans protests of its own

CAIRO – Rival rallies clogged streets across the capital Friday, sparking fresh bouts of violence as the nation's political atmosphere grows increasingly charged and combustible.

Clashes erupted outside a mosque in the coastal city of Alexandria, with the two sides throwing stones and firing shots. Two people were killed and dozens injured. Minor scuffles erupted in a Cairo neighborhood and in the Nile Delta city of Damietta with at least 18 injured.

General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi had called on Egyptians to take to the streets to "give me, the army and police a mandate to confront possible violence and terrorism," an apparent reference to the Muslim Brotherhood that the military ousted from power.

Opponents to the ousted government heeded the call, flowing into Tahrir Square on Friday and to a rally outside the president palace, showing their support for the military and Sisi. On July 3, the army chief ushered in a transition plan that forced Muslim Brotherhood aligned President Mohammed Morsi out, suspended the constitution and dissolved the legislature.

"I'm here because I love Egypt," said Abdel Hamid, waving an Egyptian flag as he stood in Tahrir Square. "I love Sisi and I love the military."

Demonstrator Heba Abdel Salam, with a flag painted on her face, said Sisi seeks to prove that the new transition is welcome by Egyptians. "It was the people's – not the military's – decision," she said.

Earlier on Friday, Egyptian authorities ordered Morsi be detained for 15 days pending investigation into a slew of accusations, including that he conspired with a foreign entity, Hamas, to break out of prison in the wake of a the 2011 revolution that ousted former Hosni Mubarak, who served as president for three decades.

For the first time since protests erupted against Morsi at the end of June, security presence was heavy along the perimeter of Tahrir Square. Six military tanks guarded at least one entrance to the square as an Apache helicopter hovered low, drawing cheers from the crowd below.

Nearby, however, pro-Morsi protesters were furious that Morsi was pushed from power and angry that Sisi implied Morsi's supporters are terrorists.

"Sisi did something very violent – he invited people to go to Tahrir to give him permission to kill innocent, peaceful people," said Ahmed Shalaby, 29 a pharmacist.

He moved in a thousand-strong throng on a street toward Nasr City, where many more rallied to insist that Morsi be reinstated.

"Sisi came to power with a coup but Morsi came through elections," said Abdo Sayat, who came to Cairo from a port city called Damietta. "Morsi is the only president of Egypt."

By mid afternoon, the health ministry said 24 were injured in clashes in three cities, including the capital, local news media said. And many are bracing for more violence.

Mohamed Kadry Said, a retired general and head of the security studies unit at Cairo's Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said Sisi might be planning to increase military action in the Sinai Peninsula, where militant attacks have increased in recent weeks, as well as against Morsi supporters, who continue to hold protests and sit-ins.

"Maybe he is saying to them: This is a serious step to close the book, to end this struggle," Said said.

At the very least, it will lead to human rights violations by the state, said Nadine Sherif, international advocacy officer at the Cairo Institute or Human Rights Studies.

"It's unacceptable," Sherif said. "The military should not be policing people."

Since Morsi was ousted, authorities have shut down Islamist television stations, Brotherhood leaders and members have been arrested and more than 50 people were killed when security forces opened fire on a pro-Morsi demonstration.

"The state has nothing but a security approach to deal with this crisis, which will lead to a lot of violence, and killings and blood," said Khalil Al-Anani, an expert on Islamist movements and Egyptian politics.

But the Muslim Brotherhood, the 85-year-old Islamist movement that propelled Morsi to power, remains the most organized political group in Egypt and has succeeded in every election held over the past two years.

The second largest Islamist group, the ultraconservative Nour Party, remains at odds with the Brotherhood. But that could change if violence at the hands of the state billows, analysts said. The majority of Islamists are aligning themselves with the Brotherhood, fearing the return of the old police state that suppressed them for decades, Al-Anani said.

"For them this is a battle of life and death," he said. "They believe the old state will come back to life. Islamists now are driven by fear more than anything else."

The military's continuing interference in civilian politics is a clear indicator that Sisi retains a major role in running the country, contributing to confusion over who is really in charge and blurring prospects for a swift and real democratic transition.

"He is now minister of defense, vice premier, commander of the armed forces, and in a sense answerable to nobody but his own interpretation of the popular will," said Nathan Brown, nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.

Regardless of who is running the show, the country faces a slew of challenges, some of which drove the protests against Morsi that preceded his July 3 ouster.

The economy has grown increasingly frail as the tourism industry remains in ruins and the country fails to attract foreign investment. The new government has also inherited a massive budget deficit.

But it appears unlikely that the interim government will take difficult and unpopular steps like cutting food and energy subsidies and raising taxes in an effort to help resolve the problem.

"We will seek to pump more new funds into the economy and not follow austerity measures," Finance Minister Ahmed Galal said Thursday, Reuters reported. "We do not want to increase taxes sharply, that is if we increase them at all, and we do not want to lower spending in a way that will slow a revival of the economy."

Since July 3, wealthy Gulf states pledged $12 billion in aid to Egypt. But this is not a long-term solution, analysts said.

"Ultimately the aid from the Gulf is a bandage and it stops some of the bleeding, but it doesn't heal the wounds," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Egypt, under Morsi, was in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan. But political instability hampered the loan and it was unclear if Morsi's government could deliver on economic promises.

"That got worse, so I don't see how an IMF loan happens under these conditions," Brown said.

On Friday, not all were keen on rallying in favor of a specific political camp as the protests paralyzed the city.

"I'm just here to see what's going on," said Amr Helmy, in Tahrir Square, who said he sought to understand the views of both protests and supported neither Sisi nor Morsi.

"We should get back to voting – get back to the ballot box," he said.