Clash at Cairo media complex injures 23 pro-Morsi supporters

CAIRO, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- At least 23 supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi were injured early Saturday in clashes with police at a Cairo media center, officials said.

Some 31 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi is a member, were arrested during the fighting, Ahram Online reported.

The interior ministry said those arrested were accused of "seeking to break into the media complex."

Two police officers were injured by birdshot during an earlier clash Friday night at the complex outside Cairo where most privately owned broadcast media are located.

Confrontations between the protesters and the police were suspended temporarily Friday night during iftar, the Ramadan fast-breaking meal.

The demonstration at the media center was one of several organized by the Muslim Brotherhood in cities around Egypt to protest Morsi's ouster and detention and threats by the government to disperse ongoing sit-ins.

A pro-Morsi Islamist coalition announced it was beginning a new sit-in Friday, adding to two that have been ongoing in other parts of Cairo. One, at a mosque in the Nasr City district, began June 28.

Ali Kamal, a lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood, said late Friday 179 detained Morsi supporters had gone on a hunger strike to protest "ill treatment" at the prison where they are being held.

They claimed other inmates had been incited to attack them, the BBC reported.

The assistant minister of interior for the prison service, Mostafa Baz, denied Saturday that a hunger strike was taking place in any of the prisons.