Muslim Brotherhood Leader Calls for Siege of US Embassy in Egypt

Blames coup on America

A Muslim Brotherhood leader called on Egyptians to lay siege to the U.S Embassy in Cairo to protest what he said was American support for the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

U.S. diplomats should leave Egypt, Essam El-Erian told Brotherhood supporters today in Cairo's Nasr City suburb, where they've been staging a sit-in since Mursi's July 3 removal by the army. He said he hoped they wouldn't be harmed. The U.S., which gives more than $1 billion a year to the Egyptian military, hasn't labeled its intervention as a coup, though it has called for a quick transition to democracy.

One person was killed and seven were injured today during clashes between Mursi supporters and opponents in Tahrir Square in Cairo, state television reported. Pro-Mursi demonstrators also fought with opponents near the Defense Ministry, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. More than 100 people were injured in similar clashes last night in the coastal city of Suez, according to Ahram Gate news website.