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Tahrir Square remains the tacit venue of anti-Morsi protesters. The two sides met as pro-Morsi demonstrators on their way to hold a rally before the American Embassy close by, approached the Square, and the inevitable clash resulted. The two sides threw rocks at one another, and gunshots rang out. An army officer was witness to the event, describing how the campers at Tahrir charged straight for the oncoming Islamists in the belief their plan was to storm and take possession of the square.

The El-Badil website showed a video where unidentified men near the Qasr Nil Bridge used shotguns to register their rage at the Tahrir Square protesters. A vicious, seething rage exists on either side, toward the sympathies and determination of the other. Hossam Bakir, the journalist with El-Badil, covering the pro-Morsi march informed ONTV that both the Islamists and the Tahrir crowd shot at one another.

The military in army vehicles separated the two sides when access to Tahrir was closed by anti-Morsi organizers after the clashes began.  In Qaliubiya province an unconfirmed report stated that similar clashes led to the deaths of two young men. An official in the health ministry related that three other men were injured, one by birdshot, the other two, while fleeing the gunfire, hit by a train. Military and police intervened to separate the sides, resulting in a police officer sustaining injury.

The armed forces had earlier taken precautions to prevent a march by thousands of Islamists from reaching the defence ministry by blocking all routes leading to their destination. Morsi supporters continue their call for Morsi's reinstatement, protesting against what they say was a military coup against Egypt's first democratically-elected leader. Scuffles took place between Islamists and passersby who opposed the march.

Protests have been staged along with sit-ins across Cairo and several governorates, those involved loudly insisting that Mohamed Morsi be recalled to the presidency. A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood claims that their supporters were attacked as an intimidation tactic. "The assault on protesters near the American embassy only reflects a desperate attempt at suppressing peaceful demonstrations", he charged.

The Brotherhood has used all the wel-worn and still-useful public relations tactics in its arsenal which it has effectively learned evokes an empathetic response in the international community. As improbable as it seems, there is skepticism in the administrative and diplomatic venues of the international community about the legitimacy of the caretaker government and the actions of the military, widely considered to represent a coup d'etat. 

While on the one hand there is an understanding that the Brotherhood and Morsi failed to represent the aspirations, political and social of the entire country in their haste to consolidate their Islamist credentials as the only ones that mattered, ignoring the real problems besetting the country, the West also continues to cling to the notional democracy that they feel has been set back by the removal of Mohamed Morsi.

Under the radar, however, the Muslim Brotherhood has called in all its IOUs from its fellow Islamists, calling upon Hamas in particular to come to its side as it did during the revolutionary zeal of a year ago when no effort was made to recapture Salafist and Brotherhood prisoners from the prison break that Hamas successfully engineered, freeing Mohammed Morsi and countless other political prisoners as well as social criminals.

Hamas has responded yet again to its mentor's call, and has assembled itself along with Islamic Jihad and Bedouin Salafists in the Sinai to launch deadly attacks on military and police outposts, disrupting gas pipelines and threatening to slip through the border once again to mount attacks within Israel. For its part, the military has responded by closing smuggling tunnels, warning residents in whose homes they are accessed they risk of long years in prison.

The very Muslim Brotherhood that is decrying the illegitimacy and violence that the military has launched in attempting to restore order has undertaken a series of destabilizing actions meant to defy the military and regain the upper hand for themselves. Plans as ambitious as marching on to Cairo and retaking the city, then the country for the Muslim Brotherhood remain the order of their plan to advance the future of their Islamist cause for the country.