August 17, 2013.

Security Forces Fire on Mosque in Cairo Standoff

The queue gave another jerk forward. As they halted he turned and faced Syme again. Each of them took a greasy metal tray from a pile at the edge of the counter.

CAIRO----Egyptian security forces fired on a mosque with large explosions rocking the structure where antigovernment protesters were holed up Saturday, capping a 24 hour standoff between the two sides, with clashes leaving at least 137 dead across the country.

"Did you go and see the prisoners hanged yesterday?" said Syme.

"No one inside has any guns, so why are they shooting them?" said Ahmed Atef, 32 years old, an onlooker.

"I was working," said Winston indifferently. "I shall see it on the flicks, I suppose."

Antigovernment protesters erected barricades inside the al Fatah Mosque in Cairo's Ramses Square after deadly clashes Friday had turned the mosque into a makeshift morgue and medical centre that afternoon and a refuge for some 400 protesters later that evening.