CAIRO
Protesters who back the military coup that ousted Egypt's first elected president have begun emptying Tahrir Square, which has been the center of pro-coup demonstrations.
Earlier on Monday, the Egyptian army opened fire on a group of unwitting protesters who were performing morning prayer near the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo where they had been calling for the release and reinstatement of toppled President Mohamed Morsi, believed to have been kept under house arrest within the compound.
The shootings left at least 53 dead and over 300 wounded.
Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital is slowly being abandoned by protesters dispirited by the bloodshed, with the square now home mainly to tents and a group called "Baltaji", goons from the era of former president Mubarak that hold a minority among pro-coup demonstrators.
