[Jadaliyya Editors note: According to circulating news reports, the Muslim Brotherhood has put the death toll resulting from security forces` attacks against sit-ins at 121.]
Security forces began dispersing two month-long sit-ins that have been calling for the reinstatement of President Mohamed Morsi, with deaths reported on both sides.
Early Wednesday morning security forces deployed in the areas surrounding Rabea al-Adaweya Mosque and Nahda Square, according to state media and eyewitnesses speaking to Mada Masr.
Brotherhood spokesperson Gehad al-Haddad posted to his Twitter account that tear gas and live ammunition were fired in the direction of protesters. State TV has said that the Interior Ministry has so far only used tear gas.
Death tolls from Rabea al-Adaweya were varied, with Al-Jazeera reporting twenty-five killed. The state news agency MENA reported that one conscript and once CSF officer died in Rabea while four officers were injured there, and that two conscripts were injured by Nahda Square.
Near the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in, tear gas and the sound of gunshots were heard by a Mada Masr reporter.
Another eyewitness at the Nahda sit-in said that sit-in was nearly dispersed. Pro-Morsi protesters had spread out into the gardens and neighborhoods surrounding the sit-in.
In a statement issued early Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Interior said that it was executing the orders it received from the cabinet to disperse both sit-ins, which have been taking place for over a month.
The statement included a portion about safe gateways for protestors to exit both sit-ins. The ministry vowed not to pursue any of the protesters except those for whom the prosecutor general issued arrest warrants.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]