Egyptian army accused of pushing country toward civil war

CAIRO and LONDON — Egypt’s military was accused of pushing the country towards civil war Wednesday after hundreds of protesters were believed to have been killed in a “massacre” at two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps.

Security forces used machine guns, snipers, tear gas and armoured bulldozers during a full scale assault to clear the camps in Cairo, which had been at the centre of Islamist opposition to the country’s new government. The operation left a scene of carnage on the capital’s streets and Egypt embroiled in its worst turmoil since the start of the Arab Spring.

Last night, with clashes breaking out across the country, the military declared a month-long state of national emergency and imposed a sweeping curfew in major cities.

The country’s interim vice-president, the Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, announced his resignation in protest at the shootings, which some even warned could presage a Syrian-style descent into chaos.

Wednesday’s operation was the culmination of a six-week stand-off between Egypt’s security forces and the Muslim Brotherhood which followed the military’s decision to remove Mohammed Morsi as president. He had been the country’s first Islamist leader and its first to be democratically elected.

Mr Morsi’s supporters had vowed to occupy two protest camps, one near the city’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and the other near Cairo University, until he was reinstated. That ended yesterday when the military moved into both camps with decisive force.

The Muslim Brotherhood put the number of dead at more than 500, and said that those killed in the “massacre” included unarmed civilians, women and children. Egypt’s health ministry gave an official death toll of 235, with more than 2,000 injured, although those figures were expected to rise.

A Sky News cameraman, Mick Deane, 61, was among those shot dead, while several other journalists were injured while trying to report on the fighting.


AP Photo/Hussein TallalSmoke rises as Egyptian security forces clear a sit-in camp set up by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo's Giza district, Egypt, Aug. 14, 2013.

Britain and the U.S. led condemnation of the violence yesterday, with David Cameron saying the bloodshed was “not going to solve anything”. Washington called on the Egyptian government “to respect basic human rights”, but stopped short of threatening to cut off U.S. aid to the country.

Britons were advised to avoid non-essential travel to most parts of Egypt, with the exception of Red Sea resorts, after the Foreign Office updated its travel advice.

The violence, the worst in Egypt since the overthrow of former military-backed ruler Hosni Mubarak in 2011, quickly spread to other cities yesterday as the Brotherhood urged their supporters to take to the streets. “We are waging jihad now,” vowed Majdi Isam, a Brotherhood supporter in Cairo, his hair caked with blood. “God will have vengeance on these butchers.”

John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, last night condemned the violence, calling the bloodshed “deplorable” and “counter to Egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion and genuine democracy”.

AP Photo/Manu BraboMorsi supporters run from Egyptian security forces firing towards them during clashes in Cairo.

He told reporters at the State Department: “The world is watching. Violence is simply not a solution in Egypt or anywhere else.”

In Alexandria, a march of Brotherhood supporters turned into a riot as hundreds went on the rampage with wooden clubs, storming a police station. Brotherhood members also tore down pictures of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the senior military chief who removed Mr Morsi from office. Three Christian churches in central Egypt were also attacked.

Mohamed al-Beltagi, a senior Brotherhood leader whose 17-year-old daughter was among those killed in the Cairo protest camps, said that the army risked dragging the country into all-out conflict. “This pushes the country towards a civil war,” he said, adding: “Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will embroil this country so that it becomes Syria.”

The Daily Telegraph

AP Photo/Sabry Khaled, El Shorouk NewspaperA police vehicle is pushed off of the 6th of October bridge by protesters close to the largest sit-in by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi Wednesday.


AFP/Getty ImagesMuslim brotherhood supporters overturn a police vehicle during clashes.


MOSAAB EL-SHAMY/AFP/Getty ImagesA Muslim Brotherhood supporter throws a water container onto a fire during clashes with police in Cairo.


AP Photo/Mohammed Abu ZeidMohammed Morsi supporters clash with security forces.