Photo Gallery Battles in Cairo
The streets surrounding the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in Nasr City in eastern Cairo resembled a battlefield on Wednesday. The violent altercation between the Muslim Brotherhood and security forces has resulted in dozens of casualties.
Security forces showered protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets, according to reports by several journalists who witnessed the altercations.
Soldiers with machine guns fired on protesters using live ammunition. This image shows bulldozers and armored vehicles being deployed.
By late morning, both sit-in camps had been surrounded by security forces and at least one -- at Nahda Square -- was completely cleared.
Supporters of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood have been protesting since the putsch against President Mohamed Morsi on July 3 and had barricaded themselves inside the two squares in the form of sit-in protests.
Police used bulldozers on Wednesday to clear tents set up by the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo's Nahda Square in the city's eastern Nasr City district.
News broadcaster Al-Jazeera reported that the Egyptian Interior Ministry has stated that at least 200 arrests have been made.
Thousands of Islamists gathered at the scene, setting car tires on fire in an attempt to obscure the vision of the security forces.
Some reporters on the ground claimed that access to the camps by medics had been hindered and that some journalists had been temporarily detained.
The Egyptian Interior Ministry confirmed that at least seven people, including three members of the security forces, have been killed and that 78 have been injured.
Thousands of members of the security forces have been deployed, with several troops also said to be making their way to the east of the Egyptian capital.
Protesters threw stones and shot fireworks at approaching troops.
Smoke billowed on Wednesday over the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in eastern Cairo.
In recent weeks, the army and the interim government had repeatedly warned protesters to clear the squares. The Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters rejected the calls, and efforts to mediate by the United States and the European Union failed.
