CAIRO — Hundreds of Islamist supporters loyal to President Mohammed Morsi attacked opposition demonstrators who had gathered to protest Morsi’s recent actions, including the assumption of sweeping executive powers, triggering the worst political crisis in the country since the revolution which overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.
Armed with metal pipes, thick tree branches and an unending supply of fist-size rocks, the attacking crowds chased their opponents down the main boulevard stretching in front of Egypt’s presidential palace.