ABOVE PHOTO: Bodies lie in a room of a hospital after shooting happened at the Republican Guard building in Nasr City, Cairo, Monday, July 8, 2013.
Egyptian soldiers and police opened fire on supporters of the ousted president early Monday in violence outside the military building in Cairo where
demonstrators had been holding a sit-in, government officials and witnesses said. Wednesday, Aug. 14, riot police swept in again with armored vehicles,
bulldozers and helicopters Wednesday to clear two sprawling encampments of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. At least 95 people were killed.
(AP Photo/Wissam Nassar)
By Hamza Hendawi and Maggie Michael
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO — Riot police swept in with armored vehicles, bulldozers and helicopters Wednesday to clear two sprawling encampments of supporters of ousted
President Mohammed Morsi, sparking running street battles elsewhere in Cairo and other Egyptian cities. At least 95 people were killed, many of them in the
assaults on the protest vigils.
Interim President Adly Mansour declared a monthlong state of emergency, ordering the armed forces to support the police in efforts to restore law and order
and protect state facilities.
Smoke clogged the sky above Cairo and fires smoldered on the streets, which were lined with charred poles and tarps after several tents were burned. The
smaller camp was cleared relatively quickly, but clashes continued at the main site near a mosque that has served as the epicenter of the pro-Morsi
campaign.
Clashes also broke out elsewhere in the capital and other provinces across the country, injuring more than 800 people nationwide, as Islamist anger over
the crackdown spread, with police stations, government buildings and Coptic Christian churches attacked or set ablaze.
The assault came after days of warnings by the military-backed interim administration that replaced Morsi after he was ousted in a July 3 coup. The two
sit-in camps at two major intersections on opposite sides of the Egyptian capital began in late June to show support for Morsi. Protesters — many from
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood — have demanded his reinstatement.
The Egyptian Central Bank instructed commercial banks to close branches in areas affected by the chaos, a sign of alarm that the violence could spiral out
of control. The landmark Giza Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum also were closed to visitors for the day as a precaution, according to the Ministry of
Antiquities.
The turmoil was the latest chapter a bitter standoff between Morsi’s supporters and the interim leadership took over the Arab world’s most populous
country. The military ousted Morsi after millions of Egyptians massed in the streets to call for him to step down, accusing him of giving the Brotherhood
undue influence and failing to implement vital reforms or bolster the ailing economy.
The coup provoked similar protests by Morsi’s backers after he and other Brotherhood leaders were detained as divisions have deepened, dealing a major blow
to hopes of a return to stability after the 2011 revolution that toppled autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak.
The deposed president has been held at an undisclosed location. Other Brotherhood leaders have been charged with inciting violence or conspiring in the
killing of protesters.
“The world cannot sit back and watch while innocent men, women and children are being indiscriminately slaughtered. The world must stand up to the military
junta’s crime before it is too late,” said a statement by the Brotherhood’s media office in London emailed to The Associated Press.
The smaller of the two camps was cleared of protesters by late morning, with most of them taking refuge in the nearby Orman botanical gardens on the campus
of Cairo University and the zoo.
An AP reporter at the scene said security forces were chasing protesters in the zoo. At one point, a dozen protesters, mostly men with beards wearing
traditional Islamist garb, were seen handcuffed and sitting on a sidewalk under guard outside the university campus. The private ONTV network showed
firearms and rounds of ammunition allegedly seized from protesters there.
Security forces later stormed the larger camp in the Cairo district of Nasr City and were closing in on the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque that has served as the
epicenter of pro-Morsi campaign. Several wanted Brotherhood leaders were believed to be hiding in the mosque.
The pro-Morsi Anti-Coup alliance claimed that security forces used live ammunition, but the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, said its
forces only used tear gas and that they came under fire from the camp.
The Interior Ministry statement also warned that forces would deal firmly with protesters who were acting “irresponsibly,” suggesting that it would respond
in kind if its men are fired upon. It said it would guarantee safe passage to all who want to leave the Nasr City site but would arrest those wanted for
questioning by prosecutors.
Army troops did not take part in the two operations, but provided security at the locations. Police and army helicopters hovered over both sites as smoke
rose over the skyline hours after the police launched the simultaneous actions shortly after 7 a.m. (0500 GMT).
The Health Ministry said 95 people were killed and 874 injured across Egypt, but it did not immediately provide a breakdown.
Separately, an alliance of pro-Morsi groups says the 17-year-old daughter of senior Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed el-Beltagy was killed. Asmaa Mohammed
el-Beltagy was shot to death in the larger of the two vigils stormed by police. Her brother, Ammar, confirmed her death on his Twitter account.
Two journalists were among the dead — Mick Deane, 61, a cameraman for British broadcaster Sky News, and Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, 26, a reporter for the
Gulf News, a state-backed newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, the news organizations reported. Both had been reported to be shot.
A security official said 200 protesters were arrested at both sites. Several detained men could be seen walking with their hands up as they were led away
by black-clad policemen.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm claimed that more than 500 protesters were killed and some 9,000 wounded in the two camps, but those figures could
not be confirmed and nothing in the video from AP or local TV networks suggested such a high death toll.
Mohammed el-Beltagy earlier put the death toll at more than 300 and urged police and army troops to mutiny against their commanders. He also said Egyptians
should take to the streets to show their disapproval of Wednesday’s raids.
“Oh, Egyptian people, your brothers are in the square. … Are you going to remain silent until the genocide is completed?” said el-Beltagy, who is wanted
by authorities to answer allegations of inciting violence.
Police fired tear gas elsewhere in Cairo to disperse Morsi supporters who wanted to join the Nasr City camp after it came under attack. State TV also
reported that a police captain had been abducted by Morsi supporters in the area, but there was no official statement about that.
Islam Tawfiq, a Brotherhood member at the Nasr City sit-in, said the camp’s medical center was filled with dead and that the injured included children.
“No one can leave and those who do are either arrested or beaten up,” he told AP.
Security officials said train services between northern and southern Egypt have been suspended in a bid to prevent Morsi supporters from traveling from
other provinces to Cairo. Clashes erupted on two roads in Cairo’s upscale Mohandiseen district when Morsi supporters opened fire on passing cars and
pedestrians. Police used tear gas to chase them away.
The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.
Churches belonging to Egypt’s minority Coptic Christians were torched in four provinces south of Cairo — Minya, Assiut, Sohag and the desert oasis Fayoum.
In the city of Bani Suef south of Cairo, protesters set three police cars on fire. Farther south in the Islamist stronghold of Assiut, police used tear gas
to disperse pro-Morsi crowds in the city center.
Morsi supporters want him reinstated and are boycotting the military-sponsored political process, which includes amending the Islamist-backed constitution
adopted last year and holding parliamentary and presidential elections early next year.
At least 250 people have died in previous clashes since the coup.
Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, had just completed a year in office when he was toppled. He has largely been held incommunicado but was
visited by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and an African delegation. Ashton reported that he was well and had access to TV and
newspapers.
Several bids by the U.S., the European Union and Gulf Arab states to reconcile the two sides in Egypt in an inclusive political process have failed, with
the Brotherhood insisting that Morsi must first be freed along with several of the group’s leaders who have been detained in connection with incitement of
violence.
The trial of the Brotherhood’s leader, Mohammed Badie, and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater, on charges of conspiring to kill protesters is due to
start later this month. Badie is on the run, but el-Shater is in detention. Four others are standing trial with them on the same charges.
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