Egypt: Protesters Storm Muslim Brotherhood HQ
Al-Shorouk front page headline: “The people demand the fall of the Brotherhood” #Egypt #June30 pic.twitter.com/D4ZSKlK8Hl
— Sharif Kouddous (@sharifkouddous) July 1, 2013
Protesters stormed and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group early Monday, in an attack that could spark more violence as demonstrators gear up for a second day of mass rallies aimed at forcing the Islamist leader from power.
An Associated Press journalist at the scene said protesters managed to breach the compound’s defenses and storm the six-story building, and later carted off furniture, files, rugs, blankets, air conditioning units and portraits of Morsi. One protester emerged with a pistol and handed it over to a policeman outside.
Footage on local TV networks showed smashed windows, blackened walls and smoke billowing out of the fortified villa. A fire was still raging on one floor hours after the building was stormed. One protester tore down the Muslim Brotherhood sign from the building’s front wall, while another hoisted Egypt’s red, black and white flag out an upper-story window and waved it in the air in triumph.