Egypt rulers give military free rein to impose order EGYPT'S government has auth­orised police to use deadly force to protect themselves and key state institutions from attacks, after supporters of the deposed Islamist president burned down two local government buildings near the capital. As families tried to identify hundreds of mutilated bodies piled in a Cairo mosque a day after they were shot dead by the security forces, the government yesterday said 525 people were killed and more than 3,000 wounded in the worst day of civil violence in the Arab state's modern history. Muslim Brotherhood supporters say the death toll is far higher, with hundreds of bodies as yet uncounted by the authorities whose troops and police crushed protests seeking the return of deposed president ­Mohamed Morsi. Reports from witnesses appear to back the claim that many more were killed. International condemnation rained down on Cairo's military-backed rulers for ordering the storming of pro-Morsi protest camps after dawn on Wednesday, six weeks after the army overthrew Egypt's first freely elected leader. US president Barack Obama cancelled plans for military exercises with the Egyptian army, which Washington funds with $1.3 billion (£830 million) in annual aid. "The US strongly condemns the steps taken by Egypt's interim government and security forces," Mr Obama said in an address from his holiday home on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard. We deplore violence against civilians. We support universal rights essential to human dignity, including the right to peaceful protest. However, he still did not label the military takeover as a coup - a designation that would have forced a cut-off of aid. "America cannot determine the future of Egypt," he said. That's a task for the Egyptian people. We don't take sides with any particular party or political figure. "We appreciate the complexity of the situation," he said. While Mohamed Morsi was elected president in a democratic election, his government was not inclusive and did not respect the views of all Egyptians. Western diplomats have said senior US and European officials were in contact with Egypt's rulers until the final hour, pleading with them not to order a military crackdown on the protest camps, where thousands of followers of Mr Morsi had been camped out since before he was toppled. There were reports of protests yesterday but no repeat of the previous day's bloodbath. In Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, hundreds marched, chanting: "We will come back again for the sake of our martyrs!" In the Giza section of Cairo, Morsi supporters set fire to a municipal building. Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi removed Mr Morsi from power on 3 July after huge protests by people frustrated at a lack of progress on economic reform and wary of what they saw as a creeping Islamist power grab. The subsequent crackdown suggests an end to the open political role of the Brotherhood, which survived underground for decades before emerging as Egypt's dominant force after autocrat Hosni Mubarak was overthrown two years ago. Shocking scenes from Wednesday, including television footage of unarmed protesters dropping to the ground as security forces opened fire, have been seen around the world. But many Egyptians support the crackdown and resent international criticism of the army, underlining how divided Egyptian society has become. Churches were attacked and many set ablaze on Wednesday, manifesting the fear of an Islamist backlash among the Christian minority that makes up 10 per cent of the population of 85 million. The attacks on Coptic Christian churches continued yesterday, according to Egypt's official news agency and human rights advocates. The Mena agency said Morsi supporters set fire to the Prince Tadros church in Fayoum province, about 50 miles south-west of Cairo. The same province saw similar attacks on at least three churches in different villages on Wednesday. Ishaq Ibrahim from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights group, documented 39 incidents of violence against churches, monasteries, Coptic schools and shops on Wednesday. The authorities and their allies, which control the media, insist those in the pro-Morsi camps were armed, although foreign journalists have seen only limited evidence of weapons beyond sticks and rocks. "The Brotherhood would never agree to a political deal," said Ismail Khaled, 31-year-old company manager. They are terrorists and violent, and what happened was the only logical way to end their sit-ins, which did have weapons and ... violent people. Thank God the police ended them. I wish they had done so sooner. Cairo and other areas were largely calm yesterday, after the army-installed government declared a month-long state of emergency and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Cairo and ten provinces. A military source said that while sit-ins like the main one outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo would no longer be tolerated, marches may be permitted. French president François Hollande yesterday summoned the Egyptian ambassador to demand an immediate halt to the crackdown. "The head of state asserted that everything must be done to avoid civil war," his office said in a statement. In Ankara, Turkish premier Tayyip Erdogan, an Islamist, called for the UN Security Council to convene and act after what he described as a massacre in Egypt. I am calling on western countries. You remained silent in Gaza, you remained silent in Syria ... You are still silent on Egypt. So how come you talk about democracy, freedom, global values and human rights?" he told a news conference. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on all sides to "step back from the brink of disaster." Ms Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge, said the death toll pointed to "an excessive, even extreme use of force." However, the United Arab Emirates, one of several Gulf Arab states which collectively sent $12bn to fund the interim miltary-backed government, expressed support for the crackdown, saying the Egyptian ­government had "exercised maximum self-control."