Egyptian clerics warn of ‘civil war’ amid skirmishes.

Egyptian clerics warn of ‘civil war’ amid skirmishes.(AA).

Egypt’s leading religious authority warned of “civil war” and appealed for calm amid scattered violence on Friday, days before mass demonstrations that the opposition hopes can force the Islamist president to quit.

One man was shot dead and dozens wounded in Alexandria when protest marchers and Islamists clashed. A member of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood was also shot dead overnight in the city of Zagazig.

Friday’s demonstrations were called in advance of a day of mass marching on Sunday, when President Mohammad Mursi’s critics hope millions will hit the streets to demand new elections.

“Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war,” said clerics of Cairo’s thousand-year-old al-Azhar institute, one of the most influential centers of scholarship in the Muslim world.In a statement broadly supportive of Mursi, it urged dialogue and blamed “criminal gangs” who besieged mosques for violence which the Brotherhood said has killed at least five supporters in a week.

The Brotherhood’s political wing warned of “dire consequences that will pull the country into a violent spiral of anarchy”. It held liberal leaders, including former U.N. diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei, personally responsible for inciting violence by hired “thugs” once employed by the ousted dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

Opposition leaders condemned the violence. The army, which has warned it could intervene if political leaders lose control, issued a statement saying it had deployed across the country to protect citizens and installations of national importance.An Islamist rally in Cairo included calls to reconciliation.

In Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, 70 people were wounded, many by birdshot, officials said. Nine policemen were also injured after

hundreds fought around a Brotherhood office. As several thousand anti-Mursi protesters marched along the Mediterranean seafront, a Reuters reporter saw about a dozen men throw rocks at guards outside the building. They responded. Bricks and bottles flew. Gunshots went off. Eventually, the office was trashed and documents burned, watched by jubilant youths chanting against the country’s Islamist leaders.

Days of political violence in Nile Delta towns between Cairo and Alexandria continued. More than 40 were wounded on Friday in two towns. Overnight, the Brotherhood said, one man was killed and four were wounded in a raid on its office in Zagazig.Read the full story here.