Egypt police takes over mosque with protester bodies – Islamists

A boy holds a poster of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi pasted on a Yemeni flag during a rally supporting Morsi in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013. Arabic writing reads, “We are with the legitimacy.” Egyptian authorities on Thursday authorized police to use deadly force to protect themselves and key state institutions from attacks, after presumed supporters of the deposed Islamist president torched two local government buildings near the capital in the latest of a series of apparent reprisals to follow a bloody crackdown on their protest camps. AP Photo/Hani Mohammed

CAIRO – Egyptian police on Thursday entered a Cairo mosque containing the bodies of several dozen killed Islamist protesters after a brief standoff during which they fired tear gas, Islamist activists said.

“They surrounded the mosque and fired tear gas at those outside. They have now entered and we left,” said Ibrahim, a field medic who was inside the mosque.

Over 200 hundred corpses Islamists said remained from a police and military crackdown on Wednesday had been moved out earlier in the day, Ibrahim said.

“There were still 43 bodies we could not identify,” he said.

Live footage on private Egyptian television station CBC showed police in the mosque.