Egyptian security forces prepare to fire tear gas towards supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi during clashes on a bridge in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 15, 2013. Thousands of supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi held mass rallies and marched in the streets Monday to demand his return to office. The protest turned violent in downtown Cairo as police fired tear gas at pro-Morsi protesters who burned tires, threw rocks and blocked traffic flow on a main roadway running through the heart of the capital. AP/Hussein Malla
CAIRO — Egyptian state TV says security forces are moving to clear two sit-in camps in support of the country’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
Security officials say forces are firing tear gas into the larger of the two protest locations in Cairo, the encampment in the eastern Nasser City neighborhood.
Police fired tear gas at supporters of ousted president Morsi as security forces moved in on their sprawling protest camps in Cairo, an AFP correspondent and security official said.
Canisters of tear gas rained down on tents set up by the protesters at one end of the Rabaa al-Adawiya camp as police vehicles, one blaring a siren, advanced on the protesters.
“It is the beginning of the operation to disperse the protesters,” a security official told AFP, confirming that similar steps were being taken at the Nahda square camp.
At the smaller protest site outside the Cairo University campus is Giza, armored carriers were securing the area on Wednesday.
The pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV is showing images of clouds of smoke from the tear gas, collapsed tents and tires burning at the Nasser City protest site. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
At least 250 people have died in clashes in Egypt following Morsi’s July 3 ouster in a military coup.