• published: 02 Jul 2013
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Millions spilled out on to the streets of Egypt to demand the resignation of President Mohamed Morsi on the first anniversary of his inauguration, with sporadic outbreaks of violence leaving over a dozen dead and hundreds injured. Click here for RT's live updates on the Egyptian protests On Monday, protesters stormed and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group. The HQ was the scene of violent overnight clashes between armed pro-government supporters barricaded inside the building and young protesters, who attacked the building with Molotov cocktails and rocks. The Muslim Brotherhood said it is considering setting up self-defense unites to curb the violence following the storming of their headquarters, with Gehad El-Haddad, spokesman of the Islamist movement, claiming a red line of violence had been crossed. At least eight people have been killed outside the building since Sunday, while 16 have died nationwide and 781 more have been injured in the mass protest. The opposition released a statement early on Monday demanding President Mohamed Morsi step down by Tuesday at 5pm, with four Egyptian ministers resigning from Morsi's cabinet to show solidarity with the protesters. The movement also called on "police, army and judiciary" to support the people's will. If Morsi fails to resign by Tuesday, civil disobedience will continue throughout unabated. "It is the biggest protest in Egypt's history," a military source told AFP on condition of anonymity. From early on Sunday, throngs streamed towards Tahrir Square in Cairo -- the birthplace of the protests that displaced former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 -- under the rallying cry of "Leave, Morsi! Leave!". The organizers, an activist movement called Tamarod, or Rebellion, asked demonstrators -- who include pro-democratic secularists, religious minorities, and those suffering in Egypt's stuttering economy -- to leave their party allegiances at home, and bring only national flags to the rally. "Morsi you have split the people!" chanted the crowd, with some holding placards saying "Freedom to Egypt!". On the edges of the square banners declared "No Muslim Brotherhood members allowed beyond this point". Although, the organized demonstration was scheduled for the evening, even by mid-afternoon, several hundred thousand people squeezed into the increasingly tight space. Tamarod says it is expecting up to 7 million people to eventually join the long-planned protest, with large demonstrations scheduled in every significant population center. Tamarod says that since April it has gathered more than 22 million signatures demanding Morsi's resignation, far more than the 13 million votes the long-time Muslim Brotherhood member received in his narrow run-off victory a year ago. Organizers say the president must quit immediately and dissolve the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, the upper chamber of parliament that has been in charge of lawmaking for the past year. Additionally, protesters are appealing for a re-start on the suspended drafting of a new constitution. Failure to agree on a new founding charter in the wake of Mubarak's toppling has contributed to the gridlock that has paralyzed the country's political institutions. A new parliamentary election is also on the list of demands, after the Supreme Court dismissed the pro-Morsi lower house of the legislative assembly last year immediately following the vote, for alleged procedural violations in the run-up to the balloting. On Sunday night, anti-Morsi activists torched the office of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, in the city of Beni Suef, and one man was killed in a later street battle between pro and anti-Morsi activists in the same city. Anti-Morsi protesters also tried to storm the heavily-fortified headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday evening, using shotguns, rocks and firebombs, but were repelled. At least five other offices of the FJP and the Brotherhood have been set on fire in the past week. Opposition activists have successfully blocked off several highways and railroads between major urban centers. At some sites state media reported that police officers joined in chanting anti-Morsi slogans with the protesters. Senior interior security force officers have openly clashed with Morsi, and the police has said that it "lacks manpower" to protect Muslim Brotherhood properties around the country, despite repeated attacks. Despite rising tension, Morsi has decisively rejected the protesters' calls. "If we changed someone in office who was elected according to constitutional legitimacy -- well, there will be people opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later they will ask him to step down," the president told the Guardian newspaper on the eve of the demonstrations. He has also dismissed the crowd as "remnants of the old regime", and the protesters as "paid-up thugs."