国际英语新闻:Egyptian Police Issue Warning to Protesters

Egyptian police are threatening to use live weapons to protect themselves against anti-government protesters who say they will not give up their fight.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which demands the reinstatement of ousted President Momahed Morsi, is defying the interim government and calling for another big protest rally on Friday.

Egyptian authorities accuse the Brotherhood and Morsi supporters of terrorism and sabotage. The Brotherhood says the country is returning to military tyranny.

Egyptian police used guns, armored vehicles and bulldozers to break-up two large Cairo protest camps Wednesday. The official death toll from that violence stands at 578, but the Brotherhood puts it in the thousands.

Journalists and witnesses report seeing makeshift morgues and improvised hospitals with bloodstained floors loaded with dead bodies.

President Barack Obama has canceled next month's scheduled military exercises with Egypt, an event Egypt always eagerly anticipates.

Obama says traditional cooperation cannot continue when civilians are being killed in the streets.

Defense Secretary Charles Hagel telephoned Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel al-Sisi, telling him the violence puts longtime cooperation with Egypt at risk.

Also Thursday, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Egypt and urged American citizens to leave.

Egypt's interim interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, says police used minimum force against the camps and only fired tear gas. He blamed the Brotherhood for creating what he called a state of mayhem across the country by shooting at police, attacking government buildings and burning churches.