The violence Wednesday
pitted Egypt's military and current government against backers of
deposed President Mohamed Morsy, though others also were caught up in
the fray.
At least 278 people were
killed in Wednesday's violence, including 235 civilians, state TV
reported, citing an Egyptian emergency official. Interim Interior
Minister Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim said that an additional 43 police
officers had died.
The 2011 revolution that
led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, who kept a firm grip on power for 30
years, was followed by Egypt's first democratic elections. Morsy -- a
leader of the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood -- won the
presidency after that 2012 vote, but was forced out by the military last
month.
Taken into custody
immediately, Morsy hasn't been seen since. Yet his supporters have very
public in voicing their opinions, massing on the streets of Cairo and
elsewhere to slam military leaders that ousted their leader and demand
his return to the presidency.
Egypt's government had
given no indication it would back down, criticizing elements of the
protest movement and specifically ordering them to leave two spots where
they'd been gathering in Cairo for six weeks, or else they'd force them
out. On Wednesday, they did.
The story of what
exactly transpired -- who attacked whom, who opened fire, who was to
blame -- varied 180 degrees depending on where one stood in the debate
over Egypt's past, present and future.
On the one side, there
were Morsy supporters, one of whom accused the government forces of
waging a "full-on assault" on what they said had been, to-date, peaceful
demonstrations. On the other, there were those who
professed to being "surprised" by the "Muslim Brotherhood's (decision)
to attack the security forces."
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