CAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood lashed out Friday at US Secretary of State John Kerry for saying the group “stole” the 2011 popular uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, saying he was twisting facts.

Thousands of Brotherhood supporters took the streets around the country in protests to mark the passage of 100 days since security forces launched a violent crackdown on the group, killing hundreds when they broke up two sit-in camps by backers of ousted President Muhammad Mursi.

Kerry’s comments about the Brotherhood on Wednesday appeared to be an attempt by Washington to ease tensions with Egypt’s new military-backed government. After initial US criticism of the coup, many Egyptians have accused the US of siding with the Brotherhood and Mursi.

Kerry said the activists who led 18-day uprising that brought down Mubarak had not been “motivated by religion or ideology.” He said hopes for greater freedom and opportunity and an end to corruption was “what drove that revolution. And then it got stolen by the one single-most organized entity in the state, which was the Brotherhood.”

In a statement Friday, the Brotherhood said Kerry was “twisting realities and ignoring facts.” It said the Brotherhood “rose to Parliament and the presidency through elections” and accused the US of “supporting the military coup ... and ignoring the massacres and oppressive measures that the coup government is carrying out in Egypt.”