The BBC's Bethany Bell says security forces are
searching for Muslim Brotherhood supporters - some of whom may be hiding
in a nearby zoo
Egyptian
security forces have moved in to clear two protest camps occupied by
supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, with reports of
many killed.
The Muslim Brotherhood said more than 100 died, but the authorities put the death toll much lower. State TV showed armoured bulldozers moving deep into the main camp outside the eastern Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
There were also reports of violence in other parts of the country.
Authorities say the Nahda Square camp in western Cairo has now been cleared.
The interior ministry said a mopping up operation in the streets surrounding Nahda Square was under way. Pro-Morsi activists were chased into the nearby zoo and Cairo University, Nile TV said.
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Shortly before seven in the morning, from a street corner near the Rabaa mosque encampment, I watched the raid begin.
An armoured military bulldozer drove down towards the barricades on the edges of the encampment. The bulldozer pushed its way through rows of bricks and sandbags. Pro-Morsi protesters responded by throwing stones and burning tyres.
At the same time, riot police in armoured personnel carriers advanced through nearby streets. For more than two hours I heard the crack of live ammunition. The sharp bangs were accompanied by the deeper thud of tear gas explosions.
For a while, it was hard to breathe without a gas mask. Some local residents held handkerchiefs to their faces - and watched the police deployment from their balconies.
It was too dangerous for my colleagues and me to advance the hundred metres or so towards the Rabaa mosque. Thick trails of black smoke meant that we couldn't see the encampment. But the wind sometimes blew over the sound of a man's voice on loudspeaker from the mosque area. The words were too difficult to make out.
At the scene
An armoured military bulldozer drove down towards the barricades on the edges of the encampment. The bulldozer pushed its way through rows of bricks and sandbags. Pro-Morsi protesters responded by throwing stones and burning tyres.
At the same time, riot police in armoured personnel carriers advanced through nearby streets. For more than two hours I heard the crack of live ammunition. The sharp bangs were accompanied by the deeper thud of tear gas explosions.
For a while, it was hard to breathe without a gas mask. Some local residents held handkerchiefs to their faces - and watched the police deployment from their balconies.
It was too dangerous for my colleagues and me to advance the hundred metres or so towards the Rabaa mosque. Thick trails of black smoke meant that we couldn't see the encampment. But the wind sometimes blew over the sound of a man's voice on loudspeaker from the mosque area. The words were too difficult to make out.
Witnesses at Rabaa al-Adawiya
spoke of seeing dozens of bodies on the ground, and the Muslim
Brotherhood described the security forces' intervention as a massacre.
A spokesman told the BBC he had been told in a field hospital
used by Morsi supporters outside the mosque that 120 people had died. The Egyptian health ministry said seven people were killed and 67 injured.
At least two members of the security forces were among the dead and nine were injured, officials say.
The interior ministry denied any deaths were caused by its forces firing live ammunition.
"Security forces used only tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters though it was heavily fired at by armed elements from inside the two protest camps, causing the death of an officer and a conscript and the injury of four policemen and two conscripts," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, the interior ministry said security forces were taking "necessary measures" against the protest camps.
A safe exit would be provided for protesters and they would not be pursued, "except those who are wanted by the prosecution", it said.
The interior ministry was keen "not to shed any Egyptian blood", the statement went on.
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Protesters help a young man apparently suffering from tear gas exposure
The Egyptian government says the Nahda Square sit-in has been cleared
Correspondents have reported hearing live rounds of gunfire
Armoured vehicles and bulldozers moved in on Wednesday morning
Supporters
of Mr Morsi have been occupying Nahda Square and the Rabaa al-Adawiya
site since he was ousted on 3 July. They want him reinstated.
Large plumes of smoke rose over parts of the city as the
operation to clear the camps began, with tear gas canisters fired and
helicopters hovering above. Muslim Brotherhood TV called for people to send cars to the sit-ins to take casualties to hospital.
Several Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been arrested, private Egyptian TV reports.
"We arrested a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, but it is too soon to announce their names," interior ministry spokesman Abdel Fattah Uthman told CBC TV.
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Crisis timeline
- 3 July - President Mohammed Morsi deposed by military after mass protests
- 4 July - Pro-Morsi protesters gather at the Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda sites in Cairo
- 8 July - At least 51 people die in clashes between pro-Morsi protesters and security forces near the Presidential Guard barracks
- 27 July - More than 70 people killed in clashes with security forces at Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp
- 11 August - security forces threaten to clear sit-ins the following day, but the operation is postponed
- 14 August - Shortly before 07:00 local time: security forces move in to clear camps
- 14 August - Around 09:00 local time: Officials say Nahda site has been cleared
The protesters had been expecting the clearance operation, says BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen.
It is a heavy-handed operation and is a consequence of the
current "winner takes all" climate, he adds, with both sides sticking to
their positions and pushing as hard as they can. There are reports of further protests by Morsi supporters outside the capital.
In the northern city of Alexandria they are reported to have blocked main roads. Hundreds are said to have gathered outside the governor's office in Aswan in the south.
State news agency Mena says Morsi supporters threw fire bombs at a church in the central city of Sohag, but there has been no word from the Muslim Brotherhood on this.
Security sources said a church was also targeted in the city of Minya, Reuters news agency reports.
More than 250 people have been killed in clashes with the security forces in the six weeks since Mr Morsi's overthrow.
Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said the sit-ins could not continue "endlessly".
He said the authorities had been trying to seek an agreement through dialogue.
"If the police force take their procedures, they will do that in accordance with the law by court order and in accordance to the basic norms on which these things are done."
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