More than 2000 dead after Egypt forces crush protest camps

[RadioActive]

Egyptian security forces crushed the protest camps of thousands of supporters of the deposed Islamist president on Wednesday, shooting almost 200 of them dead in the bloodiest day in decades and polarizing the Arab world's most populous nation.

At least 235 people were killed in all, including at least 43 police, and 2,000 wounded, a health official said, in fierce clashes that spread beyond Cairo to towns and cities around Egypt. Deposed president Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood said the death toll of what it called a "massacre" was far higher.

While bodies wrapped in carpets were carried to a makeshift morgue near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, the army-backed rulers declared a one-month state of emergency, restoring to the military the unfettered power it wielded for decades before a pro-democracy uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said 43 police were among the dead. Security forces had completely cleared two protest camps in the capital and would not tolerate any further sit-ins, he said, vowing to restore Mubarak-era security.

Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi defended the use of force, condemned by the United States and European governments, saying the authorities had no choice but to act to end "the spread of anarchy".
"We found that matters had reached a point that no self-respecting state could accept," he said in a televised address.

The authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Cairo and several other cities including Alexandria, Egypt's second city on the Mediterranean coast.

The use of force prompted Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. diplomat and the most prominent liberal supporter of Mursi's overthrow, to resign as vice president, saying the conflict could have been resolved by peaceful means.

"The beneficiaries of what happened today are those call for violence, terrorism and the most extreme groups," he said.

Thousands of Mursi's supporters had been camped at two major sites in Cairo since before he was toppled on July 3, and had vowed not to leave the streets until he was returned to power.

The assault, ending a six-week stand-off, defied international pleas for restraint and a negotiated political solution. Straddling the Suez Canal, a vital global trade route, Egypt is a key U.S. ally at the heart of the Middle East and was the first Arab state to make peace with Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon all deplored the use of force and called for the state of emergency to be lifted as soon as possible.

VIOLENCE SPREADS

A U.S. official told Reuters that Washington was considering cancelling the biennial "Bright Star" joint military exercise with Egypt, due this year, after the latest violence, in what would be a direct snub to the Egyptian armed forces.

Violence rippled out from Cairo, with Mursi supporters and security forces clashing in the cities of Alexandria, Minya, assiut, Fayoum and Suez and in Buhayra and Beni Suef provinces.
The bloodshed also effectively ended for now the open political role of the Brotherhood, with the harshest crackdown on a movement that survived underground for 85 years to emerge after the 2011 uprising and win every election held since.

Security officials initially said senior Brotherhood figures Mohamed El-Beltagi and Essam El-Erian had been arrested, joining Mursi himself and other Brotherhood leaders in jail, but later acknowledged they had not been captured. Beltagi's 17-year-old daughter was among the dead.

Beltagi warned of wider conflict, and urged people to take to the streets to oppose the head of the armed forces, who deposed Mursi on July 3 following mass protests.
"I swear by God that if you stay in your homes, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will embroil this country so that it becomes Syria. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will push this nation to a civil war so that he escapes the gallows."
ElBaradei's political movement, the anti-Islamist National Salvation Front, did not share his qualms, declaring that "Egypt has held its head high in the sky announcing victory over political groups that abuse religion".

Since Mursi was toppled, the security forces had twice before killed scores of protesters in attempts to drive Mursi's followers off the streets. But they had held back from a full-scale assault on the tented camp where followers and their families have lived behind makeshift barricades.

After the assault on the camp began, desperate residents recited Koranic verses and screamed "God help us! God help us!" while helicopters hovered overhead and armored bulldozers ploughed over their makeshift defenses.

Reuters journalists on the scene saw masked police in dark uniforms pour out of police vans with sticks and tear gas canisters. They tore down tents and set them ablaze.
"They smashed through our walls. Police and soldiers, they fired tear gas at children," said Saleh Abdulaziz, 39, a secondary school teacher clutching a bleeding wound on his head.

DEAD BODIES, SMASHED SKULLS

After shooting with live ammunition began, wounded and dead lay on the streets among pools of blood. An area of the camp that had been a playground and art exhibition for the children of protesters was turned into a war-zone field hospital.

Seven dead bodies were lined up in the street, one of them a teenager whose skull was smashed, with blood pouring from the back of his head.

At another location in Cairo, a Reuters reporter was in a crowd of Mursi supporters when he heard bullets whizzing past and hitting walls. The crowd dived to the ground for cover. A man was killed by a bullet to the head.

The government insists people in the camp were armed. Television stations controlled by the state or its sympathizers ran footage of what appeared to be pro-Mursi protesters firing rifles at soldiers from behind sandbag barricades.
Reuters journalists and other Western media did not witness such incidents. The crowds appeared to be armed mainly with sticks, stones and concrete slabs against police and troops with rifles.

The violence was the worst in Egypt since war with Israel in 1973 and forces tough decisions upon Egypt's Western allies, especially Washington, which funds Egypt's military with $1.5 billion a year and has so far refused to label the army's overthrow of Mursi a "coup".

"The United States strongly condemns the use of violence against protesters in Egypt," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "We extend our condolences to the families of those who have been killed, and to the injured. We have repeatedly called on the Egyptian military and security forces to show restraint."

"We also strongly oppose a return to a State of Emergency law, and call on the government to respect basic human rights such as freedom of peaceful assembly, and due process under the law. The world is watching what is happening in Cairo."

The United States and Europe had pressed hard for Egypt's generals not to crush the demonstrators. A diplomatic effort to open talks between the Brotherhood and the authorities, backed by Washington, Brussels and Arab states, collapsed last week.

CHURCHES TORCHED

Outside of Cairo, state media said Mursi supporters had besieged and set fire to government buildings and attacked several churches. Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population of 85 million, have feared reprisals from Islamists since the Coptic Pope Tawadros endorsed the military takeover.

Among the dead in Cairo were at least two journalists. A Reuters photographer was shot in the foot.

At a makeshift morgue at the camp field hospital, a Reuters reporter counted 29 bodies, with others still arriving. Most had died of gunshot wounds to the head.

A 12-year-old boy, bare-chested with tracksuit trousers, lay out in the corridor, a bullet wound through his neck. His mother was bent over him, rocking back and forth and silently kissing his chest. One of the nurses was sobbing on her hands and knees as she tried to mop up the blood with a roll of tissue.

Adli Mansour, the judge appointed president by the army when it overthrew Egypt's first elected leader on July 3, announced a state of emergency for one month and called on the armed forces to help police enforce security. Rights activists said the move would give legal cover for the army to make arrests.

Turkey urged the U.N. Security Council and Arab League to act quickly to stop a "massacre" in Egypt. Iran warned of the risk of civil war. The European Union and several of its member countries deplored the killings.

Mursi became Egypt's first freely elected leader in June 2012, but failed to tackle a deep economic malaise and worried many Egyptians with apparent efforts to tighten Islamist rule.

Liberals and young Egyptians staged huge rallies demanding that he resign, and the army said it had removed him in response to the will of the people. Since he was deposed, Gulf Arab states have pledged $12 billion in aid, buying the interim government valuable time to try to put its finances back in order.

By late afternoon, the campsite where Mursi's supporters had maintained their vigil for six weeks was empty. One man stood alone in the wreckage reciting the central tenet of Islam through a loudspeaker: "There is no God but Allah."

He wept, and then his voice broke off into silence.

Source

UPDATE: According to Dr. Yahia Makkia the coordinator for Rabaa al-Adawiya field hospital; the casualties have reached over 2000 civilians dead and over 10000 wounded.

Source

EDIT: updated the number of casualties in the title to reflect the latest update.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Martyr

[Lyon275]

:omg:

[Matsuda]

[mazigh]

A sad day for Egypt, For more news: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

[Matt]

it's really sad watching the news since the morning and hopfully will not go as Syria.

[RadioActive]

I just got word that there over 250 dead in a makeshift field hospital in a Masjid (mosque) in Rabaa al-Adawiya and the "security" forces won't allow anyone to get them out. They told them that they can bury them WITHOUT an autopsy or any sort of medical/forensic checks. Also, there are civilians (including women and children) still trapped inside.

لا اله الا الله

"There is no God but Allah."

Edited August 15, 2013 by Martyr

[Nautilus]

Very sad.

[johnse7en]

Egyptian army removed a good government of Morsi and brought in CIA planted technos as caretaker government. Now they have a crisis in Egypt as morsi was a popular leader and anti American and Egyptian army is behaving like criminals.

[ffi]

Thank goodness the egyptian army stepped in to save the egyptians from the savageries of sharia, hopefully the turkish army will follow suit and rid Turkey of Erdogan too

[johnse7en]

Thank goodness the egyptian army stepped in to save the egyptians from the savageries of sharia, hopefully the turkish army will follow suit and rid Turkey of Erdogan too

Are you human being I don't think so. Egypt people stands for their rights and they were protesting without any violence and their demand was to get their President Mosri back. 2200 people were killed by Egyptian army in which book do you read killing innocent people a good step. Sham on you

What does await Egypt after the new wave of violence?

Who is responsible for the violence?

Who will benefit from chaos in Egypt?

Edited August 15, 2013 by johnse7en

[ffi]

Thank goodness the egyptian army stepped in to save the egyptians from the savageries of sharia, hopefully the turkish army will follow suit and rid Turkey of Erdogan too

Are you human being I don't think so. Egypt people stands for their rights and they were protesting without any violence and their demand was to get their President Mosri back. 2200 people were killed by Egyptian army in which book do you read killing innocent people a good step. Sham on you

What does await Egypt after the new wave of violence?

Who is responsible for the violence?

Who will benefit from chaos in Egyp

Somehow I think that those people killed, however regretably, were the first in line to lynch copts. They were people fighting for oppression, discrimination and barbarism

Edited August 15, 2013 by ffi

[johnse7en]

Somehow I think that those people killed, however regretably, were the first in line to lynch kopts. They were people fighting for oppression, discrimination and barbarism

Your information is totally wrong, you need to read history first

[RadioActive]

Thank goodness the egyptian army stepped in to save the egyptians from the savageries of sharia, hopefully the turkish army will follow suit and rid Turkey of Erdogan too

What planet did you come from? Are you blind? The army and police attacked unarmed civilians using tear gas and live rounds, they burned their tents to the ground they destroyed their food and medicine supplies, they held the bodies of the dead hostage and they refuse to release them unless the families of the deceased sign a waver stating that they committed suicide!!! I could go on but you obviously know NOTHING about Egypt or Islam, all you know are idiotic lies that you see or hear from uneducated or corrupt media.

The police always used and still uses thugs to do their dirty work for them, they loot and destroy building and even kill and they are protected by the police. These are not conspiracy theories, they are sadly day-to-day facts here!

And to make matters worse the rotten media is twisting the facts, and the army is saying they didn't do anything and commending the police for their "restraint"!!! RESTRAINT? They call genocide "restraint"! God help us all..

The lies go on and the worst part is there are people like you who would actually believe them. It's not just a sad day for Egypt, it's a sad for how humanity have fallen..

These are some images of what happened yesterday, so I suggest you either open your eyes or shut the hell up!

Edited August 16, 2013 by LeetPirate

[ffi]

From what I have seen is that these tents contained large arsenals of weapons. I also heard of many reports of the mohammedan brotherhood spporters shooting their own to put the blame one the army. It doesn't seem an unlikely after all the pallywood falsehoods we have seen from their hammas friends

Edited August 15, 2013 by ffi

[RadioActive]

From what I have seen is that these tents contained large arsenals of weapons

What weapons you imbecile? And where the hell did you "see" that kind of lies? All the tents contained were medicine, food, and people that were burned alive!

Here's a quote from Reuters article:

The government insists people in the camp were armed. Television stations controlled by the state or its sympathizers ran footage of what appeared to be pro-Mursi protesters firing rifles at soldiers from behind sandbag barricades. Reuters journalists and other Western media did not witness such incidents. The crowds appeared to be armed mainly with sticks, stones and concrete slabs against police and troops with rifles.

[RadioActive]

The police and the army are now laying a siege around the Iman Masjid (mosque), the one currently being used as a makeshift field hospital which now contains the bodies of over 500 dead..

Update: the "security" forces have continued to kidnap (no, it's not an arrest) unarmed civilians who were in the protests, beat and abuse them and deny them their legal rights not to mention any basic human rights.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Martyr

[andy2004]

Now it just needs america to step in and kill the murderers, if there were any justice in the world, every other country would join together to wipe out eqypts power hungry prime minister and his followers and put back the other.

[RadioActive]

As we speak there are dozens on protests all around the country against the corrupt military regime and several most of them are being attacked by "unknown forces". the police forces and their thugs, and there have been a lot of fatalities so far.

Also, several (honest) news channels are are being scrambled, and there are unconfirmed news that the Jazeera station has been raided by the police.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Martyr

[speedy57]

http://www.christianpost.com/news/churches-burned-in-egypt-as-muslim-brotherhood-targets-coptic-christians-amid-widespread-unrest-video-102391/

http://www.slateafrique.com/351650/ce-jour-la-les-freres-musulmans-sont-devenus-des-terroristes

[AlexCross]

Martyr, slow down, everyone has right to say what they have in mind, even if it isn't true or is different from your opinion.

I heard at news so many cases of rape in Egypt, most of the vitctims were international reporters, I realy don't understand what happen there. Also I saw on youtube a video where normal people pushed others from top of a building. That;s realy disturbing.

Edited August 16, 2013 by AlexCross

[RadioActive]

http://www.christianpost.com/news/churches-burned-in-egypt-as-muslim-brotherhood-targets-coptic-christians-amid-widespread-unrest-video-102391/

http://www.slateafrique.com/351650/ce-jour-la-les-freres-musulmans-sont-devenus-des-terroristes

There's not a single shred of proof that these acts of sabotage have committed by Mursi's supporters. The police's thugs do burn/loot the building and then they blame it us, they spread lies and twist the truth and the worst part that some idiots actually believe their crap. And this been going on for quite some time, it's not new.

Martyr, slow down, everyone has right to say what they have in mind, even if it isn't true or is different from your opinion.

No, I won't slow down. Those are my people we're talking about, my friends who were murdered and kidnapped and I won't stand by while someone twist the truth and dishonor their memory/name!

I heard at news so many cases of rape in Egypt, most of the vitctims were international reporters, I realy don't understand what happen there. Also I saw on youtube a video where normal people pushed others from top of a building. That;s realy disturbing.

And you know where these rapes/assaults happened? In "Tahrir Square" among the government supporters and their thugs!!!!

Also, right now the "security forces" helicopters are shooting at the UNARMED demonstrators in "Ramsis Square" and so far there has been 43 dead there alone.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Martyr

[Cyberboom]

I don't know why those phony Islamic people (Muslim Brotherhood) carry weapons and start attacking Egypt army ,the victim is not only the national army cause they also attacked christian areas and burned churches. Is This What prophet Mohammad taught us ???

[RadioActive]

I don't know why those phony Islamic people (Muslim Brotherhood) carry weapons and start attacking Egypt army ,the victim is not only the national army cause they also attacked christian areas and burned churches. Is This What prophet Mohammad taught us ???

Lemme guess, you're one of Bashar's dogs? It seems prophet Muhammad (SAW) has taught you nothing since you obviously know nothing about Islam to begin with!

The protestors are UNARMED! They are peaceful demonstrators who are against the corrupt military coup, and both the police and the army keep killing them and then they justify their actions by lieing and saying they were armed which are LIES!

The government insists people in the camp were armed. Television stations controlled by the state or its sympathizers ran footage of what appeared to be pro-Mursi protesters firing rifles at soldiers from behind sandbag barricades.

Reuters journalists and other Western media did not witness such incidents. The crowds appeared to be armed mainly with sticks, stones and concrete slabs against police and troops with rifles.

This is a photo of protestors are are PROTECTING a church against possible attack from the government thugs!

On the other hand, here's another church where government snipers are stationed on its roof!

This link contains a gallery/slideshow of photos for the corrupt "security forces", while this link contains a similar gallery/slide of the protests, see the difference and judge for yourself!

Edited August 16, 2013 by Martyr

[Cyberboom]

I don't know why those phony Islamic people (Muslim Brotherhood) carry weapons and start attacking Egypt army ,the victim is not only the national army cause they also attacked christian areas and burned churches. Is This What prophet Mohammad taught us ???

Lemme guess, you're one of Bashar's dogs? It seems prophet Muhammad (SAW) has taught you nothing since you obviously know nothing about Islam to begin with!

The protestors are UNARMED! They are peaceful demonstrators who are against the corrupt military coup, and both the police and the army keep killing them and then they justify their actions by lieing and saying they were armed which are LIES!

haha Thanks for your wonderful ethics !! :angry:

Then I think you are dog not human (sorry dogs cuz ,I know you have loyalty.. not like traitors!)

by the way I'm muslin from Syria ..(real Islam Not Extreme Islam).

Do you think people around the world will believe that the protestors you are talking about they were peaceful <_< .if this true why they carry pistols and rifles ?? I will not talk much more .. Cuz I believe Human Minds around the world are not dead yet !

Edited August 16, 2013 by Cyberboom

[RadioActive]

haha Thanks for your wonderful ethics !! :angry:

Then I think you are dog not human (sorry dogs cuz ,I know you have loyalty.. not like traitors!)

by the way I'm muslin from Syria ..(real Islam Not Extreme Islam).

Do think people around the world will believe that the protestors you are talking about they were peaceful <_< .if this true why they carry pistols and rifles ?? I will not talk much more .. Cuz I believe Human Minds around the world are not dead yet !

So I was right, you ARE one of Bashar's dogs after all. You obviously know NOTHING about either ethics or Islam! And I suggest you lookup the definition of "traitor" in the dictionary before you accuse anyone of being one.

You call yourself a "real muslin"? Are you talking about the same Syrians who support the murderer Bashar who kills his own people, yeah right sure! God help the free Syrian people who suffer against your kind.

And for the millionth times, the protestors are UNARMED! But if all what I said and showed doesn't convince then I won't bother, cause you're obviously not worth it!

You're obviously both blind and stupid so I'll quote the Reuters article once more,

The government insists people in the camp were armed. Television stations controlled by the state or its sympathizers ran footage of what appeared to be pro-Mursi protesters firing rifles at soldiers from behind sandbag barricades.

Reuters journalists and other Western media did not witness such incidents. The crowds appeared to be armed mainly with sticks, stones and concrete slabs against police and troops with rifles.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Martyr