CAIRO — Driving to Rabi’a Al-Adaweya Mosque at 4:45 a.m., where supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi had held a sit-in since June 28, several military light tanks rolled down the Oct. 6 Bridge that slices through the capital; the formation headed to Tahrir Square, and it was just the beginning. Dozens of armored personnel carriers, light tanks, military jeeps, central security armored patrols and hundreds of heavily armed military and police troopers blocked every road leading to the rally.

“Turn around and get out of here, no one is allowed in!” shouted the Special Forces officer with a finger on his AK-47’s trigger. He wore a camouflage bulletproof vest, a lifted facial mask and a threatening attitude. Behind him, gunshots and sporadic yet heavy machine-gun fire echoed in a war-zone-like sound.

On the other side, where the main battle started in front of the Republican Guards Club, red-capped military police personnel surrounded the area where Ministry of Interior tactical units and military Special Forces took shots, chased their still-alive targets and made arrests.

A troop of about a dozen masked, armed-to-the-teeth military and police officers in full combat gear hastily crossed the main boulevard that stretches all the way to Cairo’s airport with military facilities and government departments on both sides. They darted into a residential building and reappeared a few seconds later beating two detainees. A circle of blood stained the light green shirt of one of the freshly apprehended and apparently targeted pair who were both dragged to a gas station occupied by several military jeeps.