They came from far and wide to pray at Cairo's Al Fateh Mosque.
PRAYER LEADER (Translation): Take revenge on every traitor!
CROWD (Translation): God….
Supporters of the ousted president Mohammed Morsi - filling the streets in downtown Cairo.
PRAYER LEADER (Translation): If it is not Your will for them to see the right path, then hasten with Your justice and Your revenge.
CROWD (Translation): Amen.
This was as much a display of defiance as a religious ritual. In the ferocious heat of the midday sun, prayers gave way to protest.
CROWD (Translation): With our soul, with our blood, we defend you, Islam! Martyr, sleep and rest! And we will continue with the struggle!
MAN (Translation): We are here today for our children who died, our children who burned to get our children’s rights. You can’t disperse demonstrations by killing and burning people!
CROWD (Translation): Sufficient unto us is God!
It was the beginning of a day of rage, a day of bloodshed. And very soon we would find ourselves caught up, right in the middle of it all.
We'd arrived late the night before in the middle of a state of emergency. It's about 11:30pm, so the curfew that the military have put in place has been running for a few hours now and the streets are deserted. We haven't seen anyone at all. This is my ninth trip to Egypt to cover the political unrest, but this time it really does feel different.
We saw a few cars and even fewer people, except for these curfew-busting footballers. Shortly after, at a checkpoint, our camera was seized and most of our footage deleted. The military is deeply sensitive about how this crisis is being conveyed to the world.
It's taken us about two hours to get to the hotel, uh, and I'm pretty relieved to be here, I have to say. We went through about eight or nine roadblocks. Most of them were military roadblocks, but Egyptians too were sort of policing their own neighbourhoods and at one point they jumped on the bonnet here and pulled our wiper blade up, and we couldn't really figure out why. But they told us that that was a sign to other protester that is we were OK, that we were safe to be in the neighbourhood. Of course, when the sun comes up tomorrow, things will be much different. The military and the protesters will be back out on the streets, and that's when we have been seeing all that violence.
The next day, close to Ramses Square, I meet Tareq, a petroleum working and proud family man. He's a fervent supporter of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.
REPORTER: Well, what is a safety officer from a petroleum company doing here, protesting in the streets of Cairo?
TAREQ: You ask me about my job - I am here because I'm an Egyptian. I want to restore my revolution.
REPORTER: When you say restore the revolution, what do you mean by that?
TAREQ: I mean by that, restore the legitimacy of Mr Mohammed Morsi. We have been through five elections in two years to start the democratic process. Democratic process said respect everybody's vote. Nobody respected our vote. This is the second reason why I am here.
Front and centre in everyone's minds is the storming of pro-Morsi protest camps just two days earlier, a deadly crackdown that left more than 500 dead.
TAREQ: Look around you and lift the camera.
But Tareq says, like everyone here, he is unarmed and unconcerned.
TAREQ: You're gonna die sooner or later. So, let us make this death with a meaning. Let us make it with a meaning.
REPORTER: You feel as though you have nothing left to lose?
TAREQ: No. I have nothing to worry about. I have four daughters, I have a wife. But I leave that to Allah. I put that in the custody of Allah.
With Friday prayers over, the streets were soon filled with criticise for justice, tens of thousands massing in defiance of warning from the security forces.
The crowd here is growing so quickly, we've actually had to get onto the roof of a van to be able to film. You can see thousands streaming in. If you look down this way, they're on the bridges, they're on the roads below, they are gathering here to show the world their anger.
PROTESTER (Translation): It is genocide! I want to tell you something, Hitler made a furnace and burned the Jews, whereas Sisi made a furnace and burned the Muslims!
MAN: This is the live ammunition and still we don't know if this is from army or protesters.
Well, things have escalated here dramatically in Ramses Square and you can hear the gunfire and you can see the tear gas that has been fired into the crowd. But these protesters say they're going nowhere. They will stay.
In the chaos, we're rushed back to the mosque. They're taking us in now. The place of worship now a field hospital for the injured. So, we're being shepherded inside this mosque, where we're being told that at least seven... ..that at least seven of these protesters have been killed and you can see here... people are furious.
REPORTER: Can we come in? Can we come in? Can we come in? OK. Thank you.
Inside, a scene of sheer desperation, the floor littered with the dead and the dying.
MAN (Translation): The sound of fire, then we go to the police station, we found the fire everywhere with the live ammunition and the tear gas.
Some are older, some disturbingly young. Every minute seems to bring another casualty, everyone we speak to tells us they were protesting peacefully.
MAN (Translation): Sisi wants to have massacres to frighten the people and hush them up and subject us once again to military rule.
We've been inside the mosque here now for about 15 minutes and I would say that we've seen dozens of bodies. People here are rushing in with medical supplies, with bandages, to help in whatever way they can. You can see here people holding drips, trying to do what they can to help these people and the fear is now, with more gunfire outside, that the number of casualties is only likely to grow.
MAN (Translation): Listen to me! Leave him alone! Go in and broadcast, man. Broadcast these atrocities, man. Broadcast, man. What is this?
It's too dangerous to stay any longer. We head outside and make our way to the streets beyond. Within an hour, the mosque will be under fire, and under siege. We feel very lucky to get out when we did. A few blocks away, the scene and the viewpoint couldn't be any more different.
REPORTER: What do you think of what's happening just around the corner in Ramses Square?
RAMY RAOUF: First of all, I would like to mention that this is not a coup. OK? This is what we want as Egyptian people.
Ramy Raouf is on the flip side of this struggle. He says president Morsi had his chance and blew it.
REPORTER: Do you think that it's fair to elect someone and then remove them?
RAMY RAOUF: People are the democracy. When we go to street with more than 40 million, we are the democracy. We show us that we didn’t want you anymore.
In June, millions took to the streets to demand Morsi step down, now the military is in control and the Muslim Brotherhood may well be outlawed.
REPORTER: So you're saying this is what the people want, not what the military and General Sisi want?
RAMY RAOUF: Most of people. Not all the people. Most of people. More than 80%. They stand by us. By the people. That's why we are making him like a hero.
In Cairo's police hospital, Egypt's Culture Minister, Mohamed Saber Ibrahim Arab, is on a morale-boosting visit. To see police and military personnel injured in the previous week's clashes.
MOHAMED SABER IBRAHIM ARAB, CULTURE MINISTER (Translation): You got us out of… we were losing the country – you are reclaiming it. May God heal you.
LIEUTENANT QADRY ELSAYED, PATIENT (Translation): Thank you.
MOHAMED SABER IBRAHIM ARAB (Translation): Praise be to God for his safety.
LIEUTENANT QADRY ELSAYED (Translation): Thank you.
We're the first non-Egyptian crew to be allowed to film in the hospital.
MOHAMED SABER IBRAHIM ARAB (Translation): I hope what you filmed would be a message to the world. We are not facing people… we are facing a terrorist group that targets soldiers who are protecting the homeland and its institutions.
Lieutenant Qadry Elsayed is one of 70 officers who were injured. Many of his colleagues were killed, as protesters stormed police stations across the capital.
LIEUTENANT QADRY ELSAYED (Translation): We didn’t fire live ammunition, we shot up into the air, just to threaten them so they would leave us alone, we should have killed them because that is how you handle terrorists who attack police officers and personnel.
MAN: As you see, some people need ice, because the bodies are a few days ago....
If there's one place that speaks of Egypt's loss, it's here at the Cairo morgue.
MAN: Another body coming in, as you see the smell is very bad here, because the bodies are long time here.
REPORTER: The smell is horrific...
MAN: Yeah.
We meet Ahmed Hassan, whose nephew has been missing for four days.
AHMEN HASSAN (Translation): I have been to 50 hospitals, all my family is looking.
He hopes he won't find him in the morgue. But for so many, there's no such mystery. Since president Morsi was ousted, more than 1,000 people have been killed.
CROWD (Translation): They are beating us on the streets, they beat us. May they be ruined! Make way! Stop filming! Stop filming!
As I prepare to leave Cairo, the troops are back on the streets, military hardware on show. The Egyptian people are crying out for security. This isn't what they had in mind. With the political gulf as wide as ever, I wonder how many more will lose their lives.
ANJALI RAO: That report from Brett Mason, with production by Garry McNab and Donald Cameron. The suggestion today that former president Hosni Mubarak may be released could throw fuel on the fire. Meanwhile, democratically elected Mohammed Morsi remains under arrest in a secret location. Plus, it's reported today that Washington has temporarily suspended military aid. Meanwhile, Brett has done a video blog for our website, talking about how he handled filming in the middle of the huge, angry crowds. That's at sbs.com.au/dateline.
Reporter/Camera
BRETT MASON
Producers
GARRY MCNAB
DONALD CAMERON
Fixer
RAMY FRANCIS
Editor
MICAH MCGOWN
Original Music Composed by
VICKI HANSEN
PRAYER LEADER (Translation): Take revenge on every traitor!
CROWD (Translation): God….
Supporters of the ousted president Mohammed Morsi - filling the streets in downtown Cairo.
PRAYER LEADER (Translation): If it is not Your will for them to see the right path, then hasten with Your justice and Your revenge.
CROWD (Translation): Amen.
This was as much a display of defiance as a religious ritual. In the ferocious heat of the midday sun, prayers gave way to protest.
CROWD (Translation): With our soul, with our blood, we defend you, Islam! Martyr, sleep and rest! And we will continue with the struggle!
MAN (Translation): We are here today for our children who died, our children who burned to get our children’s rights. You can’t disperse demonstrations by killing and burning people!
CROWD (Translation): Sufficient unto us is God!
It was the beginning of a day of rage, a day of bloodshed. And very soon we would find ourselves caught up, right in the middle of it all.
We'd arrived late the night before in the middle of a state of emergency. It's about 11:30pm, so the curfew that the military have put in place has been running for a few hours now and the streets are deserted. We haven't seen anyone at all. This is my ninth trip to Egypt to cover the political unrest, but this time it really does feel different.
We saw a few cars and even fewer people, except for these curfew-busting footballers. Shortly after, at a checkpoint, our camera was seized and most of our footage deleted. The military is deeply sensitive about how this crisis is being conveyed to the world.
It's taken us about two hours to get to the hotel, uh, and I'm pretty relieved to be here, I have to say. We went through about eight or nine roadblocks. Most of them were military roadblocks, but Egyptians too were sort of policing their own neighbourhoods and at one point they jumped on the bonnet here and pulled our wiper blade up, and we couldn't really figure out why. But they told us that that was a sign to other protester that is we were OK, that we were safe to be in the neighbourhood. Of course, when the sun comes up tomorrow, things will be much different. The military and the protesters will be back out on the streets, and that's when we have been seeing all that violence.
The next day, close to Ramses Square, I meet Tareq, a petroleum working and proud family man. He's a fervent supporter of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.
REPORTER: Well, what is a safety officer from a petroleum company doing here, protesting in the streets of Cairo?
TAREQ: You ask me about my job - I am here because I'm an Egyptian. I want to restore my revolution.
REPORTER: When you say restore the revolution, what do you mean by that?
TAREQ: I mean by that, restore the legitimacy of Mr Mohammed Morsi. We have been through five elections in two years to start the democratic process. Democratic process said respect everybody's vote. Nobody respected our vote. This is the second reason why I am here.
Front and centre in everyone's minds is the storming of pro-Morsi protest camps just two days earlier, a deadly crackdown that left more than 500 dead.
TAREQ: Look around you and lift the camera.
But Tareq says, like everyone here, he is unarmed and unconcerned.
TAREQ: You're gonna die sooner or later. So, let us make this death with a meaning. Let us make it with a meaning.
REPORTER: You feel as though you have nothing left to lose?
TAREQ: No. I have nothing to worry about. I have four daughters, I have a wife. But I leave that to Allah. I put that in the custody of Allah.
With Friday prayers over, the streets were soon filled with criticise for justice, tens of thousands massing in defiance of warning from the security forces.
The crowd here is growing so quickly, we've actually had to get onto the roof of a van to be able to film. You can see thousands streaming in. If you look down this way, they're on the bridges, they're on the roads below, they are gathering here to show the world their anger.
PROTESTER (Translation): It is genocide! I want to tell you something, Hitler made a furnace and burned the Jews, whereas Sisi made a furnace and burned the Muslims!
MAN: This is the live ammunition and still we don't know if this is from army or protesters.
Well, things have escalated here dramatically in Ramses Square and you can hear the gunfire and you can see the tear gas that has been fired into the crowd. But these protesters say they're going nowhere. They will stay.
In the chaos, we're rushed back to the mosque. They're taking us in now. The place of worship now a field hospital for the injured. So, we're being shepherded inside this mosque, where we're being told that at least seven... ..that at least seven of these protesters have been killed and you can see here... people are furious.
REPORTER: Can we come in? Can we come in? Can we come in? OK. Thank you.
Inside, a scene of sheer desperation, the floor littered with the dead and the dying.
MAN (Translation): The sound of fire, then we go to the police station, we found the fire everywhere with the live ammunition and the tear gas.
Some are older, some disturbingly young. Every minute seems to bring another casualty, everyone we speak to tells us they were protesting peacefully.
MAN (Translation): Sisi wants to have massacres to frighten the people and hush them up and subject us once again to military rule.
We've been inside the mosque here now for about 15 minutes and I would say that we've seen dozens of bodies. People here are rushing in with medical supplies, with bandages, to help in whatever way they can. You can see here people holding drips, trying to do what they can to help these people and the fear is now, with more gunfire outside, that the number of casualties is only likely to grow.
MAN (Translation): Listen to me! Leave him alone! Go in and broadcast, man. Broadcast these atrocities, man. Broadcast, man. What is this?
It's too dangerous to stay any longer. We head outside and make our way to the streets beyond. Within an hour, the mosque will be under fire, and under siege. We feel very lucky to get out when we did. A few blocks away, the scene and the viewpoint couldn't be any more different.
REPORTER: What do you think of what's happening just around the corner in Ramses Square?
RAMY RAOUF: First of all, I would like to mention that this is not a coup. OK? This is what we want as Egyptian people.
Ramy Raouf is on the flip side of this struggle. He says president Morsi had his chance and blew it.
REPORTER: Do you think that it's fair to elect someone and then remove them?
RAMY RAOUF: People are the democracy. When we go to street with more than 40 million, we are the democracy. We show us that we didn’t want you anymore.
In June, millions took to the streets to demand Morsi step down, now the military is in control and the Muslim Brotherhood may well be outlawed.
REPORTER: So you're saying this is what the people want, not what the military and General Sisi want?
RAMY RAOUF: Most of people. Not all the people. Most of people. More than 80%. They stand by us. By the people. That's why we are making him like a hero.
In Cairo's police hospital, Egypt's Culture Minister, Mohamed Saber Ibrahim Arab, is on a morale-boosting visit. To see police and military personnel injured in the previous week's clashes.
MOHAMED SABER IBRAHIM ARAB, CULTURE MINISTER (Translation): You got us out of… we were losing the country – you are reclaiming it. May God heal you.
LIEUTENANT QADRY ELSAYED, PATIENT (Translation): Thank you.
MOHAMED SABER IBRAHIM ARAB (Translation): Praise be to God for his safety.
LIEUTENANT QADRY ELSAYED (Translation): Thank you.
We're the first non-Egyptian crew to be allowed to film in the hospital.
MOHAMED SABER IBRAHIM ARAB (Translation): I hope what you filmed would be a message to the world. We are not facing people… we are facing a terrorist group that targets soldiers who are protecting the homeland and its institutions.
Lieutenant Qadry Elsayed is one of 70 officers who were injured. Many of his colleagues were killed, as protesters stormed police stations across the capital.
LIEUTENANT QADRY ELSAYED (Translation): We didn’t fire live ammunition, we shot up into the air, just to threaten them so they would leave us alone, we should have killed them because that is how you handle terrorists who attack police officers and personnel.
MAN: As you see, some people need ice, because the bodies are a few days ago....
If there's one place that speaks of Egypt's loss, it's here at the Cairo morgue.
MAN: Another body coming in, as you see the smell is very bad here, because the bodies are long time here.
REPORTER: The smell is horrific...
MAN: Yeah.
We meet Ahmed Hassan, whose nephew has been missing for four days.
AHMEN HASSAN (Translation): I have been to 50 hospitals, all my family is looking.
He hopes he won't find him in the morgue. But for so many, there's no such mystery. Since president Morsi was ousted, more than 1,000 people have been killed.
CROWD (Translation): They are beating us on the streets, they beat us. May they be ruined! Make way! Stop filming! Stop filming!
As I prepare to leave Cairo, the troops are back on the streets, military hardware on show. The Egyptian people are crying out for security. This isn't what they had in mind. With the political gulf as wide as ever, I wonder how many more will lose their lives.
ANJALI RAO: That report from Brett Mason, with production by Garry McNab and Donald Cameron. The suggestion today that former president Hosni Mubarak may be released could throw fuel on the fire. Meanwhile, democratically elected Mohammed Morsi remains under arrest in a secret location. Plus, it's reported today that Washington has temporarily suspended military aid. Meanwhile, Brett has done a video blog for our website, talking about how he handled filming in the middle of the huge, angry crowds. That's at sbs.com.au/dateline.
Reporter/Camera
BRETT MASON
Producers
GARRY MCNAB
DONALD CAMERON
Fixer
RAMY FRANCIS
Editor
MICAH MCGOWN
Original Music Composed by
VICKI HANSEN