Sunday anti-Morsi protests in Egypt leave 16 people dead: Health Ministry

The Egyptian Health Ministry says 16 people have been killed in massive protests across the North African country on Sunday.

The ministry said on Monday that eight people were killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi outside the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in the capital, Cairo.

Overnight, the demonstrators threw petrol bombs and rocks at armed guards who were inside the building.

On Monday morning, the protesters attacked the headquarters in the eastern Moqattam District and looted it. The six-story building was also set on fire.

Meanwhile, three other people died in the central province of Assiut and one each in Fayoum, Beni Sueif and Kafr el-Sheikh provinces.

One demonstrator suffocated to death at the protest outside the Presidential Palace in Cairo while another died of injuries in the city of Alexandria, the ministry added.

The massive protests on Sunday came on the first anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration as president following the 2011 revolution that toppled the Western-backed regime of Hosni Mubarak.

Earlier on Monday, the opposition set July 2 as a deadline for Morsi to step down.

“We give Mohamed Morsi until 5:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, July 2, to leave power, allowing state institutions to prepare for early presidential elections,” said a statement by Egypt’s opposition movement of Tamarod.

The Egyptian opposition movement warned that if Morsi does not resign until the deadline, the protesters will begin “a complete civil disobedience campaign.”

In a televised address on June 26, Morsi said the polarization of the country’s political life is “threatening to paralyze” Egypt.

He acknowledged that he had made some mistakes during his first year in office but called for national reconciliation, saying that he was open to cooperating with the opposition on constitutional reform.