(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, called on Egyptian police on Wednesday not to shoot on protesters demanding democratic change as four more people died in clashes.
In the strong statement from Al-Azhar, grand imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb said that any dialogue "stained with blood is doomed and its fruit will be bitter."
Al-Azhar "calls on the police leadership to immediately issue orders not to point their weapons at demonstrators... no matter what the reasons," Tayyeb said in the recorded address broadcast on state television.
It calls "on the armed forces to throw all their weight behind preventing confrontations between one people," he added.
"Al-Azhar also calls on our children in Tahrir Square and all the squares of Egypt to maintain the peaceful nature of their revolution, despite the sacrifices and difficulties they face and to protect all private and public property."
The statement came as three more people died in clashes with police in and around Tahrir Square, a medic said, and a fourth was shot dead in the northwestern city of Marsa Matrouh when security forces clashed with demonstrators trying to storm a police station, state said.
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In the strong statement from Al-Azhar, grand imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb said that any dialogue "stained with blood is doomed and its fruit will be bitter."
Al-Azhar "calls on the police leadership to immediately issue orders not to point their weapons at demonstrators... no matter what the reasons," Tayyeb said in the recorded address broadcast on state television.
It calls "on the armed forces to throw all their weight behind preventing confrontations between one people," he added.
"Al-Azhar also calls on our children in Tahrir Square and all the squares of Egypt to maintain the peaceful nature of their revolution, despite the sacrifices and difficulties they face and to protect all private and public property."
The statement came as three more people died in clashes with police in and around Tahrir Square, a medic said, and a fourth was shot dead in the northwestern city of Marsa Matrouh when security forces clashed with demonstrators trying to storm a police station, state said.
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