More violence in Egypt kills five overnight

Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak clashed again on Thursday near a central Cairo square where demonstrators have been demanding the leader leave power. Violence the night before left five people dead and hundreds injured.

“[Wednesday] night was almost a slaughterhouse in the square,” says Michael Meunier, President of the US Copts Association who is currently in Egypt acting as the foreign media spokesman for the newly formed “Coalition for Democratic Change.”

“We felt like we were in a war zone with gunfire being heard everywhere,” Meunier says.

Meanwhile the Muslim Brotherhood, an officially banned movement which has links with Islamist movements in several other Arab countries, issued a statement on Thursday calling for a national unity government to replace Mubarak.

Meunier told Vatican Radio that various leaders within the opposition movement, including the Muslim Brotherhood, had earlier held discussions about the future of the country.

“We all agreed that whatever happens, Egypt needs to stay a secular country and the constitution needs to stay secular,” Meunier says. “But things are moving fluidly – you never know who’s going to abide by their agreements and who’s not.”

Listen to Michael Meunier’s interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: