Weeks of unrest in Egypt have left left scores dead and injured. Recent clashes have brought just this week’s death toll to at least twelve. More violence is feared as opposing sides – supporters and opponents of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi – ramp up for rival protests.

Egypt’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for opponents of the former president to engage in peaceful protests against the wave of violence:

Egypt’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for nationwide rallies on Friday to give the military a mandate to confront what he termed violence and terrorism following the ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi… He said his appeal for protests on Friday was not a call for violence and expressed support for efforts for national reconciliation.

Al-Sisi’s call for anti-violence protests was almost immediately echoed by the Egyptian youth movement Tamarod, which had led the petition and the mass protests that eventually led to Morsi being stripped of power:

Influential Egyptian youth movement Tamarud said it backed an army call for mass rallies on Friday to give the military a mandate to confront street violence following its ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi this month. “We call on the people to take to the streets on Friday to support their armed forces, which we support and are happy for it to play its role in confronting the violence and terrorism practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood,” Tamarud leader Mahmoud Badr told Reuters.

For their part Islamists supporting Morsi vowed more confrontations.

Meanwhile the security environment across the country continues to deteriorate. A bomb thrown at a police station in Egypt’s Nile Delta killed one person and injured at least 19, and another attack on military officers in the Sinai left a soldier dead.

[Photo: Omar Salem / Youtube]