Pro-Morsi protesters surround media city, start new sit-ins

Supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi have organized a series of marches on Friday across the country, just as threats of dispersing their sit-ins by the police have been explicitly issued since July 31. 

Eyewitnesses reported on Friday afternoon that a group of protesters gathered around the Media Production City that houses studios and facilities used by privately-owned television stations. The gathering developed into clashes with police that tried to disperse protesters by firing tear gas. Protesters threw stones back at the policemen. The privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm daily reported that clashes started when the pro-Morsi protesters tried to storm the Media Production City. The media relations department of the Ministry of Interior informed local newspapers that Muslim Brotherhood protesters were trying to disrupt work at the Media Production City and that the police resorted to tear gas after asking them to leave peacefully. 

Elsewhere, pro-Morsi protesters marched toward the Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins from different points of departure. The state-run Middle East News Agency reported that organizers of the Rabea sit-in said that other sit-ins will be established in the Alf Maskan and Mostafa Mahmoud areas, east and west Cairo respectively. Earlier in the day, protesters started blocking the main road in the Alf Maskan area, eyewitnesses said, while Brotherhood media confirmed that there will be a new sit-in in the area and that tents will be set up in the evening. Eyewitnesses said protesters were distributing pictures of Morsi to passers by as well as pictures of victims of police violence in recent protests. 

The Brotherhood sit-ins, now entering their second month, are protesting Morsi's ouster by the military on July 3 and demanding his reinstatement as president.