Egypt: 1,000 Held After Deadly Street Battles

More than 1,000 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood are said to have been arrested by police following a day of further deadly clashes across Egypt.

"The number of Muslim Brotherhood elements arrested reached 1,004," the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that 558 have been held in Cairo.

The arrests came after tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters clashed with armed vigilantes and security forces in the fiercest street battles to engulf the country since the country's Arab Spring uprising.

Tear gas could be seen during flashpoints in parts of Cairo, with protesters apparently hurling bottles and rocks at security forces.

On what the Brotherhood called the "march of rage" in response to the deaths of 638 people on Wednesday when security forces raided two sit-in protests, security officials said at least 82 people, including 10 police officers, were killed.

Three floors of a towering commercial building overlooking Cairo's Ramses Square went up in flames during the mayhem. The fire appeared to be under control by this morning.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire but no injuries were reported.

A Muslim Brotherhood supporter joins the street battles

Last night, the Brotherhood called for an end to the day's rallies but said it would press on with daily protests.

In response, the Egyptian cabinet issued a defiant statement, saying it was confronting a "terrorist plot."

"The cabinet affirms that the government, the armed forces, the police and the great people of Egypt are united in confronting the malicious terrorist plot by the Muslim Brotherhood," it said.

Meanwhile, in Jordan, Morocco and the Palestinian territories, hundreds joined demonstrations in support of the Brotherhood.

US President Barack Obama said America was cancelling a joint US-Egyptian military exercise, but he stopped short of suspending Washington's annual $1.3bn in aid.

And Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recalled his ambassador to Cairo and called for Brotherhood leader and ousted president Mohamed Morsi to be reinstated.

However, the international response has not been uniformly critical, with Saudi Arabia and Jordan saying they backed Egypt's fight against "terrorism".

A military helicopter flies over Cairo during the 'day of rage'

Earlier Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande called for an emergency meeting of European Union foreign ministers to discuss the deepening crisis.

In a telephone call, the two leaders said the EU needed to consider steps it could take to persuade both sides to end the violence and enter dialogue.

"They agreed that the EU should be clear and united in its message: the violence must end immediately and there needs to be a political dialogue, involving all sides, that leads to genuine democracy," a No 10 spokesman said.

The Prime Minister and the President said they wanted a meeting of EU foreign ministers to be called for next week.

"They should consider what measures the EU can take to make clear that the violence and repression is unacceptable and to best encourage leaders from all sides to re-engage in dialogue and to chart a peaceful way forward for their country," the spokesman said.

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