CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's political groups blamed one another on Saturday for one of the year's worst bouts of violence between supporters and opponents of the president's Muslim Brotherhood group.
The powerful Brotherhood said it holds the opposition partly responsible for giving "political cover" to "thugs" who attacked and beat hundreds of the group's members outside its Cairo headquarters.
Opposition groups said President Mohammed Morsi is to blame. They accuse Morsi of polarizing the country and of failing to provide stability nine months after being elected in the country's first free presidential race.
Egypt is reeling from a number of crises, including a diesel shortage that has crippled life for millions, an economic downturn, widespread poverty and a lack of security. The interior ministry, which oversees police, has lost much of its powers since the uprising and many policemen are striking for better pay and protesting what they say is the politicization of the force under Morsi.
Leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on Twitter that the violence is due to the regime's failure to address root causes of anger.
Protesters vented their frustrations Friday at the doorstep of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails. He is a member of the group's political party. Since the fall of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, the Brotherhood has emerged as the most organized political group, winning all elections at the ballot box.
The violence outside of the Brotherhood's headquarters in the sprawling Cairo neighborhood of Muqattam led to around 175 hospitalizations, including around two dozen serious injuries.
Six Brotherhood offices were also ransacked Friday in different governorates. At least one of the offices was torched, while others were broken into and had computers stolen. Ten of the group's buses were torched after protesters suspected Brotherhood members had been ferried to the site of the clashes.
MEXICO CITY –
Authorities rescued 18 women who were being forced to work as prostitutes in the
southern state of Chiapas, Mexico’s interior ministry said Friday.
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