CAIRO - Ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi is under investigation for an array of charges including murder, the state news agency said on Friday, stoking tensions as Egypt's opposing political camps took to the streets.
Heeding a call by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for a popular mandate, thousands of people rallied in numerous Egyptian cities, welcoming the military's pledge to confront weeks of violence unleashed by the July 3 overthrow of Mursi.
Supporters of the deposed Islamist leader staged counter demonstrations to demand his reinstatement, shrugging off fears of an imminent crackdown and vowing not to give in to an army demand for an immediate end to their protests.
A Reuters witness said thousands of pro-Mursi activists clashed with pro-army protesters in Egypt's second city Alexandria, some demonstrators hurling stones down on the crowds from nearby rooftops. Fifteen people were injured.
Seven protesters were also reported hurt during clashes in the Nile delta city of Damietta.
In sun-baked Cairo, army helicopters buzzed low over the main pro-Mursi tent vigil.
There is deepening alarm in the West over the course taken by the country of 84 million people, a pivotal nation between the Middle East and North Africa and recipient of $1.5 billion a year in mainly military aid from the United States.
Mursi has not been seen in public since his downfall and the army has said he is being held for his own safety. But Mena news agency said the former president would now be detained for 15 days as a judge investigated a raft of allegations.
The probe centers on charges that he conspired with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to flee jail during the 2011 uprising against veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak, killing some prisoners and officers, kidnapping soldiers and torching buildings.
Mursi has previously said locals helped him escape from prison during the 2011 upheavals and the Muslim Brotherhood denounced the series of accusations leveled against him.
"At the end of the day, we know all of these charges are nothing more than the fantasy of a few army generals and a military dictatorship," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said. "We are continuing our protests on the streets."
Many thousands of men, women and children joined Brotherhood supporters at their round-the-clock vigil in northeast Cairo.
"Our blood and our souls for Islam!" the crowds chanted, showing no sign of backing down in their stand-off, which has polarized the Arab world's biggest state, long seen as crucial to the stability of the whole Middle East.
The army has threatened to "turn its guns" on those who use violence, while the Brotherhood has warned of civil war, denying suggestions that it is provoking trouble.
Thousands of pro-army demonstrators gathered on Friday morning in Tahrir Square, center of two years of turmoil in Egypt, before the main rally, which was unlikely to peak until after the evening prayer marking the end of the day's Ramadan fast.
"The Brothers stole our revolution," said Salah Saleh, a horse trainer, voicing widespread criticism that Mursi and his allies refused to share out power when they took office, and then failed to tackle Egypt's many economic and social woes.
"They came and sat on the throne and controlled everything."
Pro-army demonstrations were planned across Egypt, while Mursi's backers also announced widespread rallies, with 34 in the Cairo area alone.
"It is either victory over the coup or martyrdom," said senior Brotherhood politician Mohamed El-Beltagy, addressing the main pro-Mursi rally in the Egyptian capital.
Confrontation appeared inevitable following a month of clashes in which close to 200 people, mainly supporters of Mursi, have been killed. Many Egyptians feared the worst.
"I'm staying home all day, it's too dangerous to work. I didn't think things in Egypt could get this bad, but every day you hear about clashes and deaths," said Shadi Mohamed, a 22-year-old taxi driver. "Egypt is a disaster."
Signaling its displeasure at recent events, Washington said this week it had delayed delivery of four F-16 fighter jets to Cairo and called on the Egyptian army to exercise "maximum restraint and caution" during Friday's rallies.
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, however, said on Thursday the Obama administration did not intend to rule on whether Mursi's overthrow constituted a coup, wording that would have triggered a cut-off of U.S. aid.
Mursi and other Brotherhood leaders were rounded up by the authorities during the 2011 revolt that swept Mubarak from power. Many managed to escape in the ensuing confusion, alongside militants from Hamas, a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that governs in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Hamas challenged investigators to find "one piece of evidence" that it had meddled in Egyptian affairs.
State television screened images on Friday of the celebrations that erupted the night Sisi announced Mursi had been deposed. The narrator declared it "the day of liberation from the Brotherhood occupation".
"Egypt against terrorism," declared a slogan on the screen.
Witnesses said army helicopters had dropped flyers at the pro-Mursi vigil calling on people to refrain from violence. The Brotherhood says it is the authorities themselves who have stirred up violence to justify a looming crackdown.
Army chief Sisi delivered his call for rallies on Wednesday in full military uniform and dark sunglasses. He was appointed by Mursi in a bid by the president to rein in Egypt's powerful military, but Sisi turned against him after a year in which the economy floundered and support for the Brotherhood fell.
He has appointed an interim government tasked with preparing for fresh parliamentary elections in about six months to be followed by a new presidential ballot.
The Tamarud ("Rebel") youth movement, which helped to rally millions in anti-Mursi street protests before the army moved against him, stressed its support for Sisi on Friday.
"The Tamarud movement affirms the mandate given by the Egyptian people to the armed forces to carry out the law with speed, justice and resolve," it said in a statement. (Reuters)