Egyptian security forces are trying to end a siege at a Cairo mosque where hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters spent the night barricaded.
The tense stand-off followed a day of bloody clashes on Friday in which more than 80 people died.
Egypt is in turmoil after protest camps in Cairo were cleared on Wednesday with the loss of hundreds of lives.
The Brotherhood, which backs deposed President Mohammed Morsi, has called for a week of daily rallies.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s interior ministry said in a statement that 1,004 “Muslim Brotherhood elements” had been arrested on Friday.
The ministry said 558 of the arrests took place in Cairo.
On Saturday, police surrounded the al-Fath mosque in Cairo’s Ramses Square, where Morsi supporters were holed up.
Security forces have entered the mosque to negotiate with the Islamist protesters to persuade them to leave.
Live television pictures showed security forces in riot gear on the steps outside, but with no sign of violence.
The BBC’s Bethany Bell in Cairo says those inside are worried about the possibility of arrests and more violence. They want the security forces to move away from the area before they leave the mosque.
Ramses Square was a focal point of Friday’s clashes and the mosque was quickly filled with the dead and injured – as well as those fleeing the violence.
Security officials quoted by the official Mena news agency said “armed elements” had opened fire from inside the mosque.
Witnesses said nearly 1,000 people were trapped inside. Some appear to have left but Egypt’s private CBC TV said on Saturday that about 400 remained.
‘DAY OF ANGER’
The Muslim Brotherhood has been on the streets since the army deposed Morsi – Egypt’s first democratically elected president – last month and installed an interim government.
On Wednesday at least 638 people died when the Brotherhood’s two protest camps in Cairo were cleared, a move that sparked international condemnation.
Friday’s protests – dubbed a “day of anger” – were called in response to Wednesday’s bloodshed. Most of the latest deaths were in Cairo but about 25 were elsewhere, including 12 in Nile Delta cities.
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”.
Correspondents say the atmosphere in Cairo is tense, with many armoured personnel carriers deployed on the streets.
The army has blocked off all entrances to Tahrir Square – the focus of demonstrations that led to the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Meanwhile, groups that support the army-backed interim government – the National Salvation Front and Tamarod – are calling for counter-demonstrations in response to the Muslim Brotherhood protests.
Friday’s violence erupted shortly after midday prayers when thousands of Morsi supporters answered the Brotherhood’s call for rallies across Egypt.
Witnesses said armed civilians were among those who clashed with protesters, while vigilantes set up roadblocks in some areas to stop Brotherhood supporters getting through.
Elsewhere in Egypt, at least 21 people were killed in the second city of Alexandria, six in Suez, eight in Damietta and five in Fayoum, according to medical sources.
Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was ousted by the military on 3 July.
He is now in custody, accused of murder over a 2011 jailbreak. His period of detention was extended by 30 days on Thursday, state media said.
Source: The Daily Star
