Scores die in Egypt unrest

CAIRO— Egypt’s new leaders warned Sunday that there would be no compromise with supporters of the deposed former president Mohammed Morsi. Speaking to the London Daily Telegraph, the country’s new Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi dismissed the idea that Morsi could be returned to power, telling his Muslim Brotherhood party there could be “no going back.”

When asked whether the government might negotiate over Morsi’s return, Beblawi said: “The declaration of the Muslim Brotherhood is far fetched. In the final analysis we have to agree that there is no going back to the past.”

Deadly clashes, meanwhile, broke out during funerals of slain Mosi supporters Sunday, as the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood urged his followers to stand fast after more than 80 of them were killed in weekend violence.

On Friday night and early Saturday, dozens of Morsi’s supporters died as clashes erupted with security forces in the streets surrounding the Rabaa alAdawia mosque in eastern Cairo.

The worst bout of violence took place before dawn on Saturday when police and armed men in civilian clothes opened fire on his supporters as they sought to expand their sit-in camp.

Khaled el-Khateeb, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency and intensive care department, said Sunday the death toll from the violence stood at 80. An official at Cairo’s main morgue, however, put the toll at 83 after the facility received 11 more bodies Sunday afternoon.

Authorities conceded that the vast majority of those killed in Cairo were demonstrators, but the Interior Ministry said some policemen also were wounded as the military-backed administration sought to defend the bloodshed. Witnesses accused the army of using live rounds and snipers of “shooting to kill” Islamist protesters. Beblawi defended the security forces, describing the clashes as an “unfortunate” event. “I do not doubt what the security forces have explained — that they did not use excessive violence,” Beblawi said.

Egypt’s Interim President Adly Mansour has given Beblawi the power to grant the military the right to arrest civilians. Some pro-Morsi supporters interpreted the decision as a prelude for a major attack against the protest camp.

Tens of thousands of people are camped out in the area, blocking access to several government ministries and angering some residents — and they are determined not to give up. “We will not leave this place, except in coffins,” said Abdulrahman Ezz, an Islamic activist