CAIRO -- Egypt's police and military stormed a pair of Muslim Brotherhood protest sites here early on Wednesday morning, leaving several protesters dead and dozens wounded as violence threatened to spill across the city.
The storming of the protest sites, at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Nasr City and another one in Nahda square, had been anticipated for more than a week, but came as a surprise when it began at 7am local time.
Reporters counted the bodies of more than 40 people after security forces moved in, but the Muslim Brotherhood has put the figure at more than 100.
The initial stage of clearing the square seemed to be completed relatively swiftly.
But within two hours large crowds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters had gathered along Nasr Street, about a kilometer away from the entrance to Rabaa, where hundreds of police and army officers had gathered. Massive reinforcements on both sides kept arriving all morning.
At a staging area for ambulances, on Nozha Street just off Nasr Street, bodies streamed out of the clashes zone. By 10:30am, ambulances were leaving for a hospital nearly every five minutes.
An ambulance driver told HuffPost they couldn't get closer to the clashes because the tear gas made it impossible for them to work, and they were afraid their cars would be trapped.
"Is this the democracy everyone talked about?" A man pleaded, as he watched an injured protester be placed in an ambulance. "The army shooting people in the streets? Is this what we were promised?"
Residents of the neighborhood, who have grown fatigued by more than a month of protests, gathered at the Addas Aqad intersection to chant slogans for the Army -- "The people, the army, one hand" -- and swarming as injured protesters and policemen were carried away from the sit in.
One block away, Muslim Brotherhood supporters gathered to face off with the police, lighting small fires in the street and chanting, "The Army, Sisi, dirty hands." Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is the chief of the Egyptian military.
Periodically, police fired barrages of tear gas and what sounded like machine gun fire down the street toward the Brotherhood supporters, forcing them back toward El Nozha street, and into cover behind cars parked nearby. There were no immediate news of casualties.
Protesters leaving the site held up unfired rifle rounds and said, "This is our Egyptian Army." It was unclear whether police were firing real ammunition or rubber bullets.
In an alley near the clashes, a skinny 22-year-old resident in shorts and a t-shirt stood holding a white flower, staring mournfully at the scene. He declined to give his name, but said he had recently served in the army and was due for another term.
"I love the Egyptian army," the man said, "but what they are doing, killing protesters, it's against humanity."

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egyptEgyptian security forces move in to disperse a protest camp held by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, on August 14, 2013 near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

egyptEgyptian security forces move in to disperse a protest camp held by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, on August 14, 2013 near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

egyptSupporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood gesture as Egyptian security forces (unseen) move in to disperse their protest camp, on August 14, 2013 near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

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Report: Muslim Brotherhood Now DENIES Leader's Daughter Has Died
According to Egyptian Streets, the Muslim Brotherhood retracted its earlier statement that the daughter of leader Khariat El Shater had been killed on Wednesday morning. The outlet adds that sources say the daughter of Mohammed El Beltagy, another leader, has died in the clashes.