Egyptian activists hold applications for "Tamarod", Arabic for "rebel", a campaign calling for the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and for early presidential elections (Photo: Mai Shaheen)
Coordinator of the Rebel campaign in Egypt's Mansoura, Doaa Khalifa, said Saturday that a rally by the anti-Mohamed Morsi group was attacked by the president's supporters leaving one member stabbed.
The attack, according to Khalifa, happened when a ceremony by the Muslim Brotherhood marking Al-Israa Wel Mirag (a significant event in the Islamic calendar) took place in Al-Nasr Mosque located near Martyrs Square where members of the Rebel campaign were present collecting signatures for a petition against Morsi's rule.
"After the ceremony ended, a massacre started. The mosque-goers attacked the campaign's members on the square, injuring four," said Khalifa in a statement published on the Rebel campaign's website, adding that the attackers wielded bladed weapons.
Among the injured was 19-year-old Mohamed Ibrahim, a Rebel member who Khalifa says was stabbed by a cousin of Muslim Brotherhood Mufti Abdel-Rahman Abdel-Bar.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night, Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Masr 25 channel reported that unknown assailants attacked Al-Nasr Mosque injuring five who were attending the ceremony led by the Brotherhood mufti, and destroying around five buses and private cars.
On the same night, in Qalyubiya governorate, Mohamed Gabri, a representative of the Rebel campaign, was attacked with a penknife while distributing Rebel campaign signature forms.
Gabri said the perpetrator was incited by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Rebel campaign aims to force early presidential elections by gathering 15 million anti-Morsi signatures to outnumber the 13.2 million votes that got him into office in June 2012.
Rebel organisers announced last week that they have collected seven million petitions since they launched the campaign in early May.
To counter the anti-Morsi Rebel petition, Abdel-Meguid, a member of Gamaa Islamyia, along with Islamist powers in the country, launched "Impartiality" — a pro-Morsi campaign — on 12 May.
On 2 June, Islamist groups announced that the initiative had managed to collect two million signatures supporting President Mohamed Morsi.
On Friday, the Rebel campaign headquarters in downtown Cairo was torched by unknown assailiants, causing limited damage to the collected petitions.
Campaign members filed a complaint against President Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, his deputy Khairat El-Shater, the secretary general of the Freedom and Justice Party, Islamist activist Ahmed El-Mogheir and a leading member of Gamaa Islamiya, Assem Abdel-Maged, accusing them of being behind the torching of the headquarters.
Short link: