Egypt's Day of Shame
15th August 2013
Condemnation of Egypt Protest Response Mounts
Murdering the Wretched of the Earth
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/murdering_the_wretched_of_the_earth_20130814/
Posted on Aug 14, 2013
Radical Islam is the last refuge of the Muslim poor. The mandated five prayers a day give the only real structure to the lives of impoverished believers. The careful rituals of washing before prayers in the mosque, the strict moral code that prohibits alcohol, along with the understanding that life has an ultimate purpose and meaning, keep hundreds of millions of destitute Muslims from despair. The fundamentalist ideology that rises from oppression is rigid and unforgiving. It radically splits the world into black and white, good and evil, apostates and believers. It is bigoted and cruel to women, Jews, Christians and secularists along with gays and lesbians. But at the same time it offers to those on the very bottom of society a final refuge and hope. The massacres of hundreds of believers in the streets of Cairo signal not only an assault against a religious ideology, not only a return to the brutal police state of Hosni Mubarak, but the start of a holy war that will turn Egypt and other poor regions of the globe into a cauldron of blood and suffering.
The only way to break the hold of radical Islam is to give followers of the movement a stake in the wider economy, the possibility of a life where the future is not dominated by grinding poverty, repression and hopelessness. If you live in the sprawling slums of Cairo or the refugee camps in Gaza or the concrete hovels in New Delhi, every avenue of escape is closed. You cannot get an education. You cannot get a job. You cannot get married. You cannot challenge the domination of the economy by the oligarchs and the generals. The only way left for you to affirm yourself is to become a martyr or shahid. Then you will get what you cannot get in life—a brief moment of fame and glory. And while what will take place in Egypt will be defined as a religious war, and the acts of violence by the insurgents who will rise from the bloodied squares of Cairo will be defined as terrorism, the engine for this chaos is not religion but the collapsing global economy, a world where the wretched of the Earth are to be subjugated and starved or shot. The lines of battle are being drawn in Egypt and across the globe. Adli Mansour, the titular president appointed by the military dictator of Egypt, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, has imposed a military-led government, a curfew and a state of emergency. It will not be lifted soon.
The lifeblood of radical movements is martyrdom. The Egyptian military has provided an ample supply. The faces and the names of the sanctified dead will be used by enraged clerics to call for holy vengeance. And as violence grows and the lists of martyrs expand it will ignite a war that will tear Egypt apart. Police, Coptic Christians, secularists, westerners, businesses, banks, the tourism industry and the military will become targets. Those radical Islamists who were convinced by the Muslim Brotherhood that electoral politics could work and brought into the system will go back underground, and many of the rank-and-file of the Muslim Brotherhood will join them. Crude bombs and explosive devices will be set off. Random attacks and assassinations by gunmen will puncture daily life in Egypt as it did in the 1990s when I was in Cairo for the New York Times, although this time the scale of the attacks will become fiercer and wider, far harder to control or ultimately crush.
What is happening in Egypt is a precursor to a wider global war between the world's elites and the world's poor, a war caused by diminishing resources, chronic unemployment and underemployment, declining crop yields caused by climate change, overpopulation and rising food prices. Nearly half of Egypt's 80 million people—33 percent—are 14 or younger and live under or just above the poverty line, which the World Bank sets at $2.00 a day. The poor in Egypt spend more than half their income on food, and often food that has little nutritional value. An estimated 13.7 million Egyptians or 17 percent of the population suffered from food insecurity in 2011, compared to 14 percent in 2009, according to the report by U.N. World Food Program (WFP) and the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). Malnutrition is endemic among poor children with 31 percent of children under 5 being stunted in growth. Illiteracy runs at over 70 percent.
Victor Hugo described this war with the poor in Les Misérables as one between the "egoists" and the "outcasts" The egoists, Hugo wrote, had "the bemusement of prosperity, which blunts the sense, the fear of suffering which is some cases goes so far as to hate all sufferers, and unshakable complacency, the ego so inflated that is stifles the soul" The outcasts, whose persecution and deprivation was ignored until it morphed into violence, had “greed and envy, resentment at the happiness of others, the turmoil of the human element in search of personal fulfillment, hearts filled with fog, misery, needs, and fatalism, and simple, impure ignorance.
The belief systems the oppressed embrace can be intolerant, but these belief systems are a response to the injustice, state violence and cruelty inflicted on them by the global elites. Our enemy is not radical Islam. It is global capitalism. It is a world where the wretched of the Earth are forced to bow before the dictates of the marketplace, where children go hungry so global corporate elites siphon away the world's wealth and natural resources and where our troops and U.S.-backed militaries carry out massacres on city streets. Egypt offers a window into the coming dystopia. The wars of survival will mark the final stage of human habitation of the planet. And if you want to know what they will look like visit any city morgue in Cairo.
Death Toll in Egypt Clashes Climbs to 525
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ALAN COWELL
CAIRO — The death toll from Egypt’s bloody crackdown on supporters of
the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, soared beyond 500 across the land
on Thursday with more than 3,700 people injured, the Health Ministry
said, in a further sign of the extent and the ferocity of Wednesday’s
scorched-earth assault by security forces to raze two pro-Morsi protest
camps in Cairo.
Despite the growing tally of dead, however, Muslim Brotherhood
supporters of Mr. Morsi urged followers to take to the streets on
Thursday, a day after the assault on the camps set off a violent
backlash across Egypt and underscored the new government’s determination
to crush the Islamists who dominated the free elections over the past
two years.
Mohamad Fath Allah, the Health Ministry spokesman, told the official Al
Ahram Web site that the toll so far stood at 525 with 3,717 injured. He
said the biggest concentration of killings, numbering 202, had been in
the larger of the two protest camps in Nasr City suburb, with 87
recorded in the smaller Nahda Square camp near Cairo University. A
further 29 deaths were reported from the Helwan area on the outskirts of
Cairo with 207 from other areas around the country.
The call for renewed demonstrations — threatening further violent
confrontation on the streets — came as an overnight curfew, ignored by
some pro-Morsi figures who gathered at a mosque and other places, drew
to a close and gave way to a brittle, muted calm in the city.
“We will always be nonviolent and peaceful. We remain strong, defiant
and resolved,” Gehad El-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood,
wrote in a message on Twitter. “We will push forward until we bring down
this military coup,” he said, referring to the ouster of Mr. Morsi six
weeks ago.
The attack on Wednesday, the third mass killing of Islamist demonstrators since the overthrow, followed a series of government threats.
But the scale — lasting more than 12 hours, with armored vehicles,
bulldozers, tear gas, birdshot, live ammunition and snipers — and the
ferocity far exceeded the Interior Ministry’s promises of a gradual and
measured dispersal.
The violence spread to other cities, and Adli Mansour,
the figurehead president appointed by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi,
declared a state of emergency, removing any limits on police action and
returning Egypt to the state of virtual martial law that prevailed for
three decades under President Hosni Mubarak. The government imposed a 7
p.m. curfew in most of the country, closed the banks and shut down all
north-south train service.
On the streets Thursday morning, the authorities continued to tamp down
fires and clean up the debris of the razed protest camps. The city was
quieter than usual, witnesses said, as some residents had their first
glimpse of the damage.
The Interior Ministry said that 43 security personnel died, news reports
said, and there were indications that the tally was still mounting.
At one landmark mosque, relatives stood over the bodies of up to 240
dead, shrouded in white and laid out in neat rows. The ice keeping the
bodies chilled was melting as household fans played over the makeshift
morgue. Many of the bodies seemed to be badly burned. One man slumped
against a pillar, his face contorted in grief. By Muslim tradition, the
deceased are usually buried within 24 hours of their death.
On Wednesday, at least one protester was incinerated in his tent. Many
others were shot in the head or chest, including some who appeared to be
in their early teens, including the 17-year-old daughter of a prominent
Islamist leader, Mohamed el-Beltagy. At a temporary morgue in one field
hospital on Wednesday morning, the number of bodies grew to 12 from 3
in the space of 15 minutes.
“Martyrs, this way,” a medic called out to direct the men bringing new
stretchers; the hems of women’s abayas were stained from the pools of
blood covering the floor.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the main Islamist group behind Mr. Morsi,
reiterated its rejection of violence on Wednesday but called on
Egyptians across the country to rise up in protest, and its supporters
marched toward the camps to battle the police with rocks and firebombs.
Clashes and gunfire broke out even in well-heeled precincts of the
capital far from the protest camps, leaving anxious residents huddled in
their homes and the streets all but emptied of life. Angry Islamists
attacked at least a dozen police stations around the country, according
to the state news media, killing more than 40 police officers.
They also lashed out at Christians, attacking or burning seven churches,
according to the interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim. Coptic Christian
and human rights groups said the number was far higher.
The crackdown followed six weeks of attempts by Western diplomats to
broker a political resolution that might persuade the Islamists to
abandon their protests and rejoin a renewed democratic process despite
the military’s removal of Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected
president. But the brutality of the attack seemed to extinguish any such
hopes.
The assault prompted the resignation of the interim vice president,
Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize laureate and former diplomat who had
lent his reputation to selling the West on the democratic goals of the
military takeover.
“We have reached a state of harder polarization and more dangerous
division, with the social fabric in danger of tearing, because violence
only begets violence,” Mr. ElBaradei wrote in a public letter to the
president. “The beneficiaries of what happened today are the preachers
of violence and terrorism, the most extremist groups,” he said, “and you
will remember what I am telling you.”
The violence was almost universally criticized by Western governments. A
spokesman for President Obama said the United States was continuing to
review the $1.5 billion in aid it gives Egypt annually, most of which
goes to the military. The spokesman, Josh Earnest, said the violence
“runs directly counter to pledges from the interim government to pursue
reconciliation” with the Islamists.
He said the United States condemned the renewal of the emergency law and
urged respect for basic rights like the freedom of assembly and
peaceful demonstrations. But he stopped short of writing off the interim
government, saying the United States would continue to remind Egypt’s
leaders of their promises and urge them “to get back on track.”
International condemnation of the military-based operation continued
unabated. In Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, an
ally of Mr. Morsi, called for an early meeting of the United Nations
Security Council to discuss what he labeled a “massacre.”
In Paris, President François Hollande summoned the Egyptian ambassador
to condemn the “bloody violence” and to “demand an end to the
repression,” the presidency said in statement. Mr. Hollande said
“everything must be done to avoid civil war,” the statement said.
Analysts said the attack was the clearest sign yet that the Egyptian
police state was re-emerging in full force, overriding liberal cabinet
officials like Mr. ElBaradei and ignoring Western diplomatic pressure
and talk of cutting financial aid.
“This is the beginning of a systematic crackdown on the Muslim
Brotherhood, other Islamists and other opponents of a military coup,”
said Emad Shahin, a professor of political science at the American
University in Cairo.
“In the end,” he added, “the West will back the winning side.”
The attack Wednesday began about 7 a.m. when a circle of police officers
began firing tear gas at the protest camps and obliterating tents with
bulldozers. Although the Interior Ministry had said it would move only
gradually and leave a safe exit, soon after the attack began several
thousand people appeared trapped inside the main camp, near the Rabaa
al-Adawiya mosque. Snipers fired down on those trying to flee and riot
police officers with tear gas and birdshot closed in from all sides.
“There is no safe passage,” said Mohamed Abdel Azeem, 25, a wholesaler,
who had braved sniper fire to reach a field hospital.
For a time in the late afternoon, the Islamists succeeded in pushing the
police back far enough to create an almost safe passage to a hospital
building on the edge of what remained of their camp. Only a roughly
20-yard stretch in front of the hospital doors was still vulnerable to
sniper fire from above, and a series of Islamist marchers from around
the city flowed back into the encampment, bolstering its numbers.
But shortly before dusk, soldiers and police officers renewed their push, and the Islamists were forced at last to flee.
Three journalists were reportedly killed in the fighting: a cameraman
for Sky News, the Britain-based news network; a reporter for a newspaper
based in the United Arab Emirates; and a reporter for an Egyptian state
newspaper. Several others were arrested.
Egyptian state news media played down the violence, reporting that the
police were clearing the camps “in a highly civilized way.” In a
televised address, Mr. Ibrahim, interior minister under Mr. Morsi and
now under the new government, said his forces “insisted on maintaining
the highest degrees of self-restraint.”
In a televised statement, Hazem el-Beblawi, the interim prime minister
and a Western-trained economist who had been considered a liberal, cited
the Islamists’ supposed stockpiling of weapons and ammunition to argue
that the use of force was justified to protect the rights of other
citizens.
Michael Wahid Hanna, a researcher on Egypt with the New York-based
Century Foundation who was visiting Cairo, asked, “Is this closer to
being resolved tonight than last night?”
“Obviously not. I don’t think anybody has thought this through fully.”
latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-egypt-crackdown-toll-20130815,0,1160232.story
latimes.com
Death toll in Egypt crackdown hits 525
By Jeffrey Fleishman5:03 AM PDT, August 15, 2013
CAIRO -- The death toll in the violence that has engulfed Egypt climbed to 525 Thursday as the nation awoke to scenes of charred streets, battered cars, funerals and deepening divisions between Islamists and the largely secular military-backed government.
The Health Ministry reported that the dead, mostly supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, included at least 43 police officers. More than 3,700 people were also wounded in clashes that ignited Wednesday when security forces broke up two sit-ins by protesters loyal to Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood claims at least 2,000 people were killed in street battles that swept the country. Many of the deaths occurred when riot police firing tear gas and automatic weapons stormed the six-week old Islamist rally outside the Rabaa al Adawiya mosque in Cairo.
The violence stunned world leaders, and Thursday Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that the U.N. Security Council move to condemn what he characterized as a massacre by Egyptian soldiers and security forces.
"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.
The Brotherhood has vowed that its followers would continue protesting until Morsi, toppled in a coup last month, is reinstated. The group’s spokesman, Gehad El-Haddad, posted on his Twitter account: “We will always be nonviolent and peaceful. We remain strong, defiant and resolved. We will push forward until we bring down this military coup.”
The attacks on the protest camps devastated the Brotherhood, relegating it to the fringes of the nation’s politics. That prospect has raised fears that Brotherhood followers and hard line Salafi Islamists may go underground to plot militant attacks on government and tourism targets similar to the bombings and assaults that killed hundreds in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Terrorism has been on the rise in the Sinai Peninsula for months. In a foreshadowing of widening civil strife and sectarianism, the more than a dozen Christian Coptic churches and monasteries were attacked Wednesday. Islamists have blamed the minority Christian population of siding with the military.
Interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi defended the crackdown on Islamists, saying, “"We found that matters had reached a point that no self-respecting state could accept."
Cairo: Egyptian PM defends crackdown as death toll rises
Hazem Beblawi says Egypt cannot move forward without security, and interior minister says protesters incited violence
Egypt's
interim government and its backers remain defiant amid a rising death
toll and widespread international condemnation of Wednesday's massacre
of Islamist supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi – the
country's third mass killing in six weeks.
The prime minister, Hazem Beblawi, said the crackdown was essential to create stability, and praised security forces for what he characterised as maximum restraint – despite Egypt's health ministry on Thursday saying 525 had died in the violence that ensued when pro-Morsi camps on either side of Cairo were cleared.
"Egypt cannot move forward, especially economically, in the absence of security," Beblawi said in a televised statement. In 2011 Beblawi resigned from a previous government after a massacre of Coptic Christians.
The interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said the protesters had "threatened national security, incited violence and tortured and killed people". Protesters at both camps had been largely peaceful.
The vice-president, Mohamed ElBaradei, appointed last month in an attempt to give the new military regime a respectable face, resigned in protest at Wednesday's events.
But in an indication that public sentiment remains strongly behind the military, even the liberal coalition he once led, the National Salvation Front, distanced itself from his decision and saluted the police's actions. A television host later called for ElBaradei to be placed under house arrest.
Dissenting voices were few and far between. But Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists, active during the 2011 uprising against the Mubarak regime, said the day's events were counter-revolutionary; "part of a plan to liquidate the Egyptian revolution and restore the military-police state of the Mubarak regime".
The first night of a dusk-till-dawn curfew – enacted under Mubarak-era laws – achieved mixed results. The usually bustling streets of central Cairo were largely empty on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Military roadblocks restricted access between parts of the city.
Elsewhere Islamists vowed to defy the curfew, and there were reports of clashes outside the finance ministry and other parts of Cairo. Fighting spread to several provinces.
On Wednesday, several Christian churches were reported to have been attacked. Christians, who make up 10% of Egypt's population, are blamed by some Islamists for Morsi's downfall.
The United States has led a chorus of international concern about the crackdown, publicly condemning the violence that resulted in the worst loss of life on a single day since the overthrow of Morsi.
The White House said "the world is watching", but there was still no sign that the US was prepared to characterise Morsi's removal by the army as a coup – which would trigger an automatic congressional ban on $1.3bn (£834m) in annual aid to the Egyptian military.
Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, said he was "deeply concerned" at the escalating violence and unrest. "I am disappointed that compromise has not been possible. I condemn the use of force in clearing protests and call on the security forces to act with restraint," he said.
Lady Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, who met Morsi in his place of detention this month, said in a statement: "Confrontation and violence is not the way forward to resolve key political issues. I deplore the loss of lives, injuries and destruction in Cairo and other places in Egypt."
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, condemned the violence and urged an effort at "inclusive reconciliation". France and Germany also called for dialogue.
The strongest language came from Turkey, whose government has been a firm supporter of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. It urged the Arab League to act quickly to stop a "massacre" and the prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, called for the UN security council to meet.
Iran warned of the risk of civil war. Rachid Ghannouchi, president of Tunisia's governing moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, called the crackdown an "abject crime". He expressed solidarity with the pro-Morsi backers' efforts to "recover their freedom and oppose the coup d'etat".
The prime minister, Hazem Beblawi, said the crackdown was essential to create stability, and praised security forces for what he characterised as maximum restraint – despite Egypt's health ministry on Thursday saying 525 had died in the violence that ensued when pro-Morsi camps on either side of Cairo were cleared.
"Egypt cannot move forward, especially economically, in the absence of security," Beblawi said in a televised statement. In 2011 Beblawi resigned from a previous government after a massacre of Coptic Christians.
The interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said the protesters had "threatened national security, incited violence and tortured and killed people". Protesters at both camps had been largely peaceful.
The vice-president, Mohamed ElBaradei, appointed last month in an attempt to give the new military regime a respectable face, resigned in protest at Wednesday's events.
But in an indication that public sentiment remains strongly behind the military, even the liberal coalition he once led, the National Salvation Front, distanced itself from his decision and saluted the police's actions. A television host later called for ElBaradei to be placed under house arrest.
Dissenting voices were few and far between. But Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists, active during the 2011 uprising against the Mubarak regime, said the day's events were counter-revolutionary; "part of a plan to liquidate the Egyptian revolution and restore the military-police state of the Mubarak regime".
The first night of a dusk-till-dawn curfew – enacted under Mubarak-era laws – achieved mixed results. The usually bustling streets of central Cairo were largely empty on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Military roadblocks restricted access between parts of the city.
Elsewhere Islamists vowed to defy the curfew, and there were reports of clashes outside the finance ministry and other parts of Cairo. Fighting spread to several provinces.
On Wednesday, several Christian churches were reported to have been attacked. Christians, who make up 10% of Egypt's population, are blamed by some Islamists for Morsi's downfall.
The United States has led a chorus of international concern about the crackdown, publicly condemning the violence that resulted in the worst loss of life on a single day since the overthrow of Morsi.
The White House said "the world is watching", but there was still no sign that the US was prepared to characterise Morsi's removal by the army as a coup – which would trigger an automatic congressional ban on $1.3bn (£834m) in annual aid to the Egyptian military.
Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, said he was "deeply concerned" at the escalating violence and unrest. "I am disappointed that compromise has not been possible. I condemn the use of force in clearing protests and call on the security forces to act with restraint," he said.
Lady Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, who met Morsi in his place of detention this month, said in a statement: "Confrontation and violence is not the way forward to resolve key political issues. I deplore the loss of lives, injuries and destruction in Cairo and other places in Egypt."
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, condemned the violence and urged an effort at "inclusive reconciliation". France and Germany also called for dialogue.
The strongest language came from Turkey, whose government has been a firm supporter of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. It urged the Arab League to act quickly to stop a "massacre" and the prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, called for the UN security council to meet.
Iran warned of the risk of civil war. Rachid Ghannouchi, president of Tunisia's governing moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, called the crackdown an "abject crime". He expressed solidarity with the pro-Morsi backers' efforts to "recover their freedom and oppose the coup d'etat".
CAIRO -- Egyptian authorities on Thursday significantly raised the death toll from clashes the previous day between police and supporters of the ousted Islamist president, saying more than 500 people died and laying bare the extent of the violence that swept much of the country and prompted the government to declare a nationwide state of emergency and a nighttime curfew.
The death toll, which stood at 525, according to the latest Health Ministry figures, makes Wednesday by far the deadliest day since the 2011 popular uprising that toppled longtime ruler and autocrat Hosni Mubarak – a grim milestone that does not bode well for the future of a nation roiled in turmoil and divisions for the past 2 1/2 years.
Health Ministry spokesman Khaled el-Khateeb put the number of the injured on Wednesday at 3,717.
Near the site of one of the smashed encampments of ousted President Mohammed Morsi's supporters in the eastern Nasr City district, an Associated Press reporter on Thursday saw dozens of blood soaked bodies stored inside a mosque. The bodies were wrapped in sheets and still unclaimed by families.
Relatives at the scene were uncovering the faces in an attempt to identify their loved ones. Many complained that authorities were preventing them from obtaining permits to bury their dead.
El-Khateeb said 202 of the 525 were killed in the Nasr City protest camp, but it was not immediately clear whether the bodies at the mosque were included in that figure. Another Health Ministry spokesman, Mohammed Fathallah, said he had no knowledge of the bodies at the el-Iman mosque.
Victims' names were scribbled on white sheets covering their bodies, some of which were charred. Posters of Morsi were scattered on the floor.
"They accuse us of setting fire to ourselves. Then, they accuse us of torturing people and dumping their bodies. Now, they kill us and then blame us," screamed a woman in a head-to-toe black niqab.
Omar Houzien, a volunteer helping families search for their loved ones, said the bodies were brought in from the Medical Center at the sit-in camp site in the final hours of Wednesday's police sweep because of fears that they would be burned.
A list plastered on the wall listed 265 names of those said to have been killed in Wednesday's violence at the sit-in. Funerals for identified victims were expected to take place later on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a mass police funeral – with caskets draped in the white, red and black Egyptian flag – was held in Cairo for some of the 43 security troops killed in Wednesday's clashes.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police, led the mourners. A police band played funerary music as a somber funeral procession moved with the coffins placed atop red fire engines.
Wednesday's violence started with riot police raiding and clearing out the two camps, sparking clashes there and elsewhere in the Egyptian capital and other cities.
Cairo, a city of some 18 million people, was uncharacteristically quiet Thursday, with only a fraction of its usually hectic traffic and many stores and government offices shuttered. Many people hunkered down at home for fear of more violence. Banks and the stock market were closed.
The Brotherhood has called for fresh protests on Thursday, raising the specter of renewed violence. However, there were no reports of any large gatherings by early afternoon.
The latest events in Egypt drew widespread condemnation from the Muslim world and the West, including the United States, Egypt's main foreign backer for over 30 years.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei resigned later Wednesday as Egypt's interim vice president in protest – a blow to the new leadership's credibility with the pro-reform movement.
Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a televised address to the nation that it was a "difficult day" and that he regretted the bloodshed but offered no apologies for moving against Morsi's supporters, saying they were given ample warnings to leave and he had tried foreign mediation efforts.
The leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood called it a "massacre." Several prominent Brotherhood figures were detained as police swept through the two sit-in sites, scores of other Islamists were taken into custody, and the future of the once-banned movement was uncertain.
Backed by helicopters, police fired tear gas and used armored bulldozers to plow into the barricades at the two protest camps on opposite ends of Cairo. Morsi's supporters had been camped out since before he was ousted by a July 3 coup that followed days of mass protests by millions of Egyptians demanding that he step down.
The smaller camp – near Cairo University in Giza – was cleared of protesters relatively quickly, but it took about 12 hours for police to take control of the main sit-in site near the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City that has served as the epicenter of the pro-Morsi campaign and had drawn chanting throngs of men, women and children only days earlier.
After the police moved on the camps, street battles broke out in Cairo and other cities across Egypt. Government buildings and police stations were attacked, roads were blocked, and Christian churches were torched, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said.
At one point, protesters trapped a police Humvee on an overpass near the Nasr City camp and pushed it off, according to images posted on social networking sites that showed an injured policeman on the ground below, near a pool of blood and the overturned vehicle.
Three journalists were among the dead: Mick Deane, 61, a cameraman for British broadcaster Sky News; Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, 26, a reporter for the Gulf News, a state-backed newspaper in the United Arab Emirates; and Ahmed Abdel Gawad, who wrote for Egypt's state-run newspaper Al Akhbar. Deane and Elaziz were shot to death, their employers said, while the Egyptian Press Syndicate, a journalists' union, said it had no information on how Gawad was killed.
The turmoil was the latest chapter in a bitter standoff between Morsi's supporters and the interim leadership that took over the Arab world's most populous country. The military ousted Morsi after millions of Egyptians massed in the streets at the end of June 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.
Morsi has been held at an undisclosed location since July 3. Other Brotherhood leaders have been charged with inciting violence or conspiring in the killing of protesters.
A security official said 200 protesters were arrested at both camps. Several men could be seen walking with their hands up as they were led away by black-clad police.
The Brotherhood has spent most of the 85 years since its creation as an outlawed group or enduring crackdowns by successive governments. The latest developments could provide authorities with the grounds to once again declare it an illegal group and consign it to the political wilderness.
In his televised address, el-Beblawi said the government could not indefinitely tolerate a challenge to authority that the 6-week-old protests represented.
"We want to see a civilian state in Egypt, not a military state and not a religious state," he said.
But the resignation of ElBaradei, the former head of the U.N. nuclear agency and a figure widely respected by Western governments, was the first crack to emerge in the government as a result of the violence.
ElBaradei had made it clear in recent weeks that he was against the use of force to end the protests. At least 250 people have died in previous clashes since the coup that ousted Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president.
On Wednesday, his letter of resignation to interim President Adly Mansour carried an ominous message to a nation already torn by more than two years of turmoil.
"It has become difficult for me to continue to take responsibility for decisions I disapprove of, and I fear their consequences," he said in the letter that was emailed to The Associated Press. "I cannot take responsibility before God, my conscience and country for a single drop of blood, especially because I know it was possible to spare it.
The National Salvation front, the main opposition grouping that he headed during Morsi's year in office, said it regretted his departure and complained that it was not consulted beforehand.
Tamarod, the youth group behind the mass anti-Morsi protests that preceded the coup, said ElBaradei was dodging his responsibility at a time when his services were needed.
Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, the powerful head of Al-Azhar mosque, Sunni Islam's main seat of learning, also sought to distance himself from the violence. He said in a statement he had no prior knowledge of the action.
Muslim Brotherhood set to march in Cairo as Egypt death toll rises to 525
24 hours of violent clashes left at least 525 dead and 3,717 injured
Heather Saul
Thursday, 15 August 2013
The Egyptian people spent their first night under curfew as a month-long state of emergency was declared across the country, following violent scenes that left hundreds dead and many more seriously injured.
Independent correspondent Alastair Beach is at the Al Eman mosque in Nasr City where at least 242 bodies are being held. The official countrywide total death toll is now 525, although this could be higher.
As the 7pm local time to 6am curfew ended, Egypts' Muslim Brotherhood vowed to bring down the "military coup" whilst remaining committed to peaceful activism after security officials cleared protest camps filled with supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on Thursday it plans to hold a march in Cairo, one day after security forces mounted a violent crackdown on its members that killed hundreds of people.
"Marches are planned this afternoon from Al-Iman mosque to protest the deaths," the Islamist group said in a statement.
In Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city, protesters were already on the move by early afternoon.
Meanwhile, authorities announced this morning that the 84 people will face military prosecutors on charges of murder and burning churches, according to the countries state news agency.
Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a televised address to the nation that it was a "difficult day" and that he regretted the bloodshed but offered no apologies for moving against Morsi's supporters, saying they were given ample warnings to leave and he had tried foreign mediation efforts.
At the site of one Cairo sit-in, garbage collectors cleared still-smouldering piles of burnt tents on Thursday. Soldiers dismantled the stage at the heart of the protest camp. A burnt out armoured vehicle stood abandoned in the street.
Yesterday's bloodshed ensued after Egypt's military led interim government forcibly broke up the Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in northeast Cairo and another camp near Cairo University on Thursday, opening fire at crowds of protesters.
Hundreds of people died in the crackdown and nationwide clashes ensued.
Interim Vice President and Nobel laureate Mohamed el-Baradei resigned in protest over the events now widely referred to as a massacre. In a statement announcing his resignation, he said: "I cannot continue in shouldering the responsibility for decisions I do not agree with and I fear their consequences. I cannot shoulder the responsibility for a single drop of blood."
Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad took to Twitter to vow that their Islamist organisation would remain "non-violent and peaceful." "We remain strong, defiant and resolved," said. “We will push (forward) until we bring down this military coup."
Traffic has now started flowing back through the area of Cairo where supporters of the deposed president set up a protest camp at the heart of a power struggle between Islamists and the army-backed government, according to a Reuters witness.
Official reports from Egypt's Health Ministry state 460 civilians were killed, along with 43 police officers. Spokesman Khaled el-Khateeb told The Associated Press this morning that the number of injured in the previous day's violence has also risen to 3,572.
He says the ministry was in the process of updating the latest figures and that an even higher death toll was likely. were injured. The Muslim Brotherhood however argues that the death toll is already much higher at 2000.
The military's violent measures were widely condemned across the globe, with US Secretary of State John Kerry describing the army's action as "a serious blow" to all reconciliation efforts, and Prime Minister David Cameron stressing that the violence is “not going to solve anything".
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called on the EU to convene, having condemned Western nations for failing to intervene before civilians were killed.
"Those who remain silent in the face of this massacre are as guilty as those who carried it out. The U.N. Security Council must convene quickly," Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara.
"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 said.
Paris
Egypte: un bain de sang condamné par la communauté internationale
Par LEXPRESS.fr, publié le 14/08/2013 à 22:22
Divisée sur l'attitude à adopter après la destitution du président islamiste Mohamed Morsi, la communauté internationale s'accorde en revanche à condamner le bain de sang survenu mercredi en Egypte.
Le bain de sang survenu mercredi en Egypte a suscité des réactions dans le monde entier. Si elle l'apprécie diversement, la communauté internationale a toutefois unanimement condamné mercredi la dispersion violente par les forces de l'ordre égyptiennes des partisans du président islamiste déchu Mohamed Morsi qui a fait 149 morts parmi les manifestants dans tout le pays, ainsi que 43 morts dans les rangs de la police, selon le gouvernement.
Le secrétaire général de l'Onu, Ban Ki-moon, a "condamné dans les termes les plus fermes les violences qui se sont produites au Caire quand les services de sécurité égyptiens ont utilisé la force" contre les manifestants. Il a demandé "à tous les Egyptiens de concentrer leurs efforts sur la promotion d'une réconciliation sans exclusive".
"La communauté internationale avec en tête le Conseil de sécurité de l'Onu et la Ligue arabe doivent immédiatement passer à l'acte pour faire cesser ce massacre", avait demandé un peu plus tôt le Premier ministre turc islamo-conservateur Recep Tayyip Erdogan, estimant que l'attitude conciliante de la communauté internationale à l'égard du "coup d'Etat" en Egypte "n'a fait qu'encourager l'actuel gouvernement en vue de son intervention" de mercredi.
Le président turc Abdullah Gül a également jugé inacceptable une "intervention armée contre des civils qui manifestent". Il a dressé un parallèle avec le début de la contestation en Syrie, avant qu'elle ne dégénère en conflit armé.
Le terme de "massacre de la population" a également été employé par le ministère iranien des Affaires étrangères, qui a évoqué "la possibilité d'une guerre civile" en Egypte.
Le Qatar, principal soutien des Frères musulmans, a dénoncé "avec force" l'intervention de la police contre des "manifestants pacifiques".
En Occident, où le renversement le 3 juillet du président Morsi, démocratiquement élu au printemps 2012, n'a guère suscité de critiques, les condamnations sont plus mesurées. "Les Etats-Unis condamnent avec force l'usage de la violence contre les manifestants en Egypte", a ainsi déclaré un porte-parole adjoint de la Maison Blanche, en exhortant l'armée à faire preuve de "retenue".
"Les évènements d'aujourd'hui sont lamentables et vont à l'encontre des aspirations des Egyptiens pour la paix et une démocratie authentique", a ensuite confirmé le secrétaire d'Etat américain John Kerry.
Après que le porte-parole de la Maison Blanche a affirmé que les Etats-Unis "s'opposent au retour de l'état d'urgence" en Egypte et que "la violence ne fera que rendre plus difficiles les progrès de l'Egypte vers une stabilité durable et la démocratie", le ministre a expliqué qu'à ses yeux, "la responsabilité revient au gouvernement intérimaire et à l'armée, qui à eux deux ont l'ascendant dans ce conflit, d'empêcher davantage de violence et de proposer des options constructives parmi lesquelles le remaniement de la Constitution et l'organisation d'élections législatives et présidentielle".
La chef de la diplomatie de l'Union européenne, Catherine Ashton, a de son côté appelé "les forces de sécurité à faire preuve de la plus grande retenue et tous les citoyens égyptiens à éviter de nouvelles provocations et une escalade" de la violence.
Le président du parlement européen, Martin Schulz, a, lui, jugé que "les nombreux morts dénombrés ce matin au Caire ne sont pas acceptables".
Le chef de la diplomatie britannique William Hague, "profondément inquiet de l'escalade de la violence en Egypte", a condamné l'usage de la force et appelé "les forces de sécurité à agir avec retenue".
La France a également "mis en garde contre un usage disproportionné de la force" et appelé à "une logique d'apaisement", tandis que Berlin prônait une "reprise immédiate des négociations" pour empêcher "toute nouvelle effusion de sang".
La Suède a estimé, par la voix de son ministre des Affaires étrangères Carl Bildt, que la "principale responsabilité" des "tueries" en Egypte incombait au régime.
Egypte : mercredi 14 août, 7 heures,
Le Caire devient zone de guerre
Le Monde | 15.08.2013 à 11h09 • Mis à jour le 15.08.2013 à 13h10 | Par Serge Michel (Le Caire, envoyé spécial)
Le jeune homme, grand, maigre, tout habillé de noir, finit par s'engouffrer dans la cour, son téléphone collé contre l'oreille et criant de terreur. Il appelle un de ses amis. Il y a bien un téléphone qui sonne, mais c'est dans la poche d'un des corps en sang tout juste arrivé, emballé à la hâte dans une couverture. Un volontaire du Croissant- Rouge agenouillé tourne et retourne la tête du blessé, qui a vomi du sang. C'est déjà un cadavre. Le jeune homme en noir pousse une lamentation et tombe à genoux. Le médecin referme la couverture.
ENTRE STUPEUR ET HYSTÉRIE
Il est 15 h 40 mercredi et les tirs ne faiblissent pas. Trois hélicoptères vrombissent. En trente minutes, deux blessés vont mourir dans cette clinique improvisée, au rez-de-chaussée d'une école primaire, malgré les efforts de quatre médecins qui leur font du bouche-à-bouche et des massages cardiaques. Il y a des litres de sang par terre. Quatre autres arriveront déjà morts.
A deux rues de là, plusieurs dizaines de manifestants s'éloignent lentement de la zone des combats. Ils ont abaissé leurs masques à gaz. Nombreux sont ceux qui ont les habits tachés de sang, le leur ou celui des blessés qu'ils ont secourus. Certains explosent d'hystérie, la plupart sont frappés de stupeur. "On avait levé les mains en l'air, raconte un homme. Mais ils tiraient quand même !"
Soudain, cinq balles frappent la façade d'un immeuble et tout le monde se met à courir. Sans doute un tireur embusqué sur le toit d'un des immeubles de la rue Al-Nasr très proche. Les manifestants tournent à la première rue à gauche pour s'abriter et y dévalisent un marchand de boissons.
Revivez les évènements de la journée sur Le Monde.fr
"On était dans un immeuble en construction, témoigne un jeune homme portant un masque à gaz et un tee-shirt moulant, cheveux mi-long, très loin du look Frère musulman. On était quelques dizaines. On jetait des cocktails Molotov sur les blindés qui avançaient vers la mosquée. Ils ont tiré. Leurs balles traversaient les murs ! Puis ils ont lancé des lacrymogènes par les fenêtres. On a dû partir, il y en avait trop. Quand on est arrivés en bas, dans la rue, on a pris la fuite. Mais ils ont continué à tirer. Plusieurs de mes camarades sont tombés."
Son compagnon, chemise et jeans pleins de sang, enchaîne : "J'en ai porté trois, deux étaient déjà morts." L'un et l'autre semblent épuisés. Ils baissent la tête et rentrent chez eux, à Al-Nozha, sept kilomètres de là.
Un homme se met à crier au rassemblement et un groupe se masse immédiatement devant lui. "On ne fuit pas, on y retourne, Allah Akbar", hurle-t-il. "Allah Akbar", répond la foule. Ils marchent d'un bon pas vers la rue d'où émanent des gaz et des claquements d'armes à feu, en chantant des slogans contre l'armée.
Le quartier au sud de Rabiya Al-Adawiya n'a pas été fermé par l'armée et de nouveaux partisans du président déchu continuent d'arriver, habillés de frais. "J'y vais pour soutenir les Frères, confie l'un d'eux, un ingénieur barbu habitant Héliopolis. Non, la bataille n'est pas perdue, j'y vais !" Les marcheurs sont pourtant rapidement bloqués par les tirs. Deux blocs en contrebas, on aperçoit l'école primaire, désormais inaccessible, noyée dans les gaz lacrymogènes. "Tous les blessés ont dû être évacués il y a quelques minutes", note un homme aperçu dans l'école et qui maintenant se cache entre deux voitures, la tête entre les mains.
VÉHICULES INCENDIÉS ET BARRICADES
Le Caire, ce mercredi, a pris des allures de zone de guerre. L'assaut donné sur les deux camps pro-Morsi a démarré à 7 heures. Deux heures plus tard, le premier, Al-Nahda, près du zoo de Giza et de l'université du Caire, était vidé de ses occupants. Seuls une dizaine d'acharnés résistaient, pris en chasse par la police dans les allées du zoo. Sous ce qui reste des tentes des protestataires, les soldats se reposent et appellent leurs proches. A deux pas de là, trois corps ont été retrouvés calcinés dans leur campement incendié.
Mais les Frères musulmans avaient préparé leur affaire et avant midi, un grand nombre d'entre eux s'étaient rassemblés devant la mosquée Mustapha Mahmoud, dans le quartier central de Mohandessine. Lorsque la police est arrivée, en fin de matinée, avec d'abord deux véhicules blindés, elle s'est retrouvée au milieu d'une bataille rangée entre les islamistes et des habitants du quartier. Les Frères semblent l'avoir rapidement emporté. Ils ont incendié un des véhicules de police et ont arraché les pavés et les bornes des trottoirs pour ériger des barricades aux quatre extrémités de la place.
En fin de journée, ils avaient ainsi conquis un autre territoire provisoirement sécurisé. On pouvait voir des centaines d'entre eux allongés sur le gazon central de la place Mustapha Mahmoud ou sous l'auvent de la mosquée, pendant qu'un petit groupe érigeait une scène et y installait des haut-parleurs. Le docteur Imad Abdul Azim, responsable d'un hôpital de campagne improvisé derrière la mosquée, assure avoir reçu 22 cadavres dans la journée et 150 blessés graves. "La plupart avaient reçu des coups de feu tirés de très près, détaille-t-il. Les balles avaient traversé leur corps."
Deux cents mètres plus loin, les habitants du quartier, furieux, s'en prenaient à la presse étrangère. "Soyez maudits, journalistes ! C'est vous qui avez créé tout ce problème en faisant de la publicité pour ces terroristes !", hurlait l'un d'eux, sur une barricade à l'entrée de la rue Goal Gamal, armé d'un fusil à canon scié flambant neuf. Derrière lui, une armurerie pillée semblait indiquer l'origine de l'équipement de cet homme et de ses voisins.
LES HÔPITAUX DE FORTUNE SUBMERGÉS
Toute la journée, des pro et des anti-Morsi se sont battus en de multiples lieux de la capitale, le plus souvent sans présence policière. Autour de la gare Ramsès, une heure avant le couvre-feu, des habitants du quartier poursuivaient un rassemblement de Frères musulmans à coups de pierres. Plus tôt dans l'après-midi, des partisans du président déchu ont renversé et mis le feu à plusieurs véhicules sur le pont du 6-Octobre. La police, dans des véhicules blindés, et des civils ont réussi à les repousser pour rétablir cet axe de communication vital de la capitale.
Cependant, le quartier ayant donné le plus de mal aux forces de sécurité est sans conteste celui de Rabiya Al-Adawiya. Au moment où les forces de sécurité ont donné l'assaut, à 7 heures, il y avait 40 000 à 60 000 partisans de Mohamed Morsi. Plusieurs témoins affirment que les sommations n'ont duré que quelques minutes avant que les véhicules blindés ne défoncent les barricades érigées ces six dernières semaines et commencent à tirer. Les blessés ont immédiatement submergé l'hôpital de fortune proche équipé de 40 lits. Cet hôpital a lui-même été investi par les forces de sécurité, dans l'après-midi.
Jeudi matin, un bilan officiel faisait état de 113 morts à Rabiya pour un total de 134 au Caire. Ces chiffres pourraient être sous-évalués, si l'on considère que le ministère de l'intérieur a indiqué pour sa part que 43 policiers étaient morts dans les opérations de la journée. Un photographe de l'AFP assure avoir compté 124 corps dans une morgue improvisée sur la place devant la mosquée, auxquels il faut ajouter 20 cadavres trouvés plus tard sous le podium de la scène et tous les morts de la dizaine de cliniques installées d'urgence dans les rues alentour, comme celle de l'école primaire de Rabiya.
"C'est fini et sans une goutte de sang !", triomphe le soir venu un gradé responsable des soldats qui gardent les hôtels de Zamalek, où logent les journalistes étrangers. On lui montre les cadavres ensanglantés de Rabiya. "Ça ? Ce n'est pas en Egypte, c'est en Syrie", rigole-t-il en s'éloignant.
Lire : En Egypte, plus de 460 victimes après les violences
Lire aussi : Les libéraux égyptiens et la démocratie, autres victimes de la crise
Serge Michel (Le Caire, envoyé spécial)
Ägypten: Muslimbrüder marschieren in Kairo und Alexandria auf
Ausnahmezustand in Ägypten: Muslimbrüder marschieren in Kairo und Alexandria auf
Die angespannte Lage zwischen den Anhängern von Ex-Präsident Mursi und dem Militär verschärft sich: In Kairo haben Muslimbrüder offenbar ein Regierungsgebäude gestürmt, in Alexandria gingen sie zu Hunderten auf die Straße. Zuvor war die Haft für Mursi um 30 Tage verlängert worden.
Kairo - Anhänger des gestürzten Ex-Präsidenten Mohammed Mursi haben in der Hauptstadt Kairo ein Regierungsgebäude gestürmt. Das berichtet die Nachrichtenagentur Reuters unter Berufung auf das Staatsfernsehen und Augenzeugen. Die Muslimbrüder protestieren gegen die gewaltsame Räumung zweier Protest-Camps in Kairo und fordern, dass Mursi wieder in sein Amt eingesetzt wird. Er befindet sich seit Anfang Juli dieses Jahres an einem unbekannten Ort im Arrest, ihm werden Mord und Spionage vorgeworfen.
Nach dem jüngsten Gewaltausbruch im Landhaben die ägyptischen Justizbehörden die Haft für Mursi um 30 Tage verlängert. Das berichtete Reuters unter Berufung auf die staatliche Nachrichtenagentur Mena.
Auch in Alexandria marschierten Hunderte Muslimbrüder auf, viele von ihnen mit Mursi-Bildern im Arm. "Wir werden im Namen unserer Märtyrer wiederkommen", skandierten sie. Verfolgen Sie hier die Ereignisse im Liveticker.
Wochenlang hatten Mursis islamistische Anhänger in Kairo in zwei Protest-Lagern ausgeharrt, die die Regierung am Mittwoch gewaltsam räumen ließ. Bei den Zusammenstößen kamen nach Regierungsangaben mehr als 520 Menschen ums Leben, mindestens 3000 weitere wurden demnach verletzt. Übergangspräsident Adli Mansur rief für einen Monat den Notstand im ganzen Land aus: Er ermöglicht Razzien und Festnahmen ohne gerichtliche Anordnung. Zudem wurde die nächtliche Ausgangssperre verhängt.
Aus Sorge vor einer weiteren Eskalation griffen internationale Politiker auf diplomatischem Wege in die Krise ein: Bundesaußenminister Guido Westerwelle bestellte den ägyptischen Botschafter ins Auswärtige Amt in Berlin ein. Damit wolle er der ägyptischen Regierung noch einmal sehr deutlich machen, dass das Blutvergießen ein Ende haben müsse, sagte Westerwelle bei seinem Besuch in Tunesien: "Es darf jetzt keine Spirale der Gewalt beginnen."
US-Außenminister John Kerry mahnte in Washington: "Dies ist ein entscheidender Moment für alle Ägypter." In den "kommenden Stunden, in den kommenden Tagen" werde sich das Schicksal des Landes entscheiden. Eine demokratische Lösung sei immer noch möglich.
Ausnahmezustand in Ägypten: Der Horror von Kairo
Staatskrise in Ägypten: Der Horror von Kairo
Aus Kairo berichtet Ulrike Putz
Entsetzlich zugerichtete Leichen, mehr als tausend Verletzte: Mit der Räumung der Mursi-Lager wollte die Regierung Ruhe in Kairo schaffen - doch jetzt herrscht Ausnahmezustand im ganzen Land. Die Menschen befürchten "Krieg zwischen den zwei Ägypten".
Dr. Mohammed Abdelazim will, dass man sich die Toten ganz genau anschaut. Den Mann, dem ein Kopfschuss die Augen aus dem Gesicht hat platzen lassen. Den Mann, dessen Därme sich in roten Schlingen auf seiner Bauchdecke kringeln. Den Mann mit dem hochgebundenen Kinn, dessen Augen ins Leere stieren.
"Sie müssen hingucken", mahnt der Doktor die Ausländerin, die das alles lieber nicht sehen will. "Sie sind Zeugin. Sie müssen der Welt sagen, was hier geschieht. Uns glaubt doch keiner", sagt der Arzt in seinem blutverschmierten T-Shirt.
Mittwochnachmittag im Innenhof der Mustafa Mahmud Moschee, einem Stadtteil von Kairos Nachbarstadt Gizeh. Dutzende Männer drängen sich um den zu ebener Erde gelegenen Verwaltungstrakt, in dem die Toten zwischen Bürostühlen und Schreibtischen liegen. Drinnen läuft die Klimaanlage auf Hochtouren, es stinkt trotzdem nach Blut und Fäkalien. Ein dicker Mann hält blaue Zettel mit Namen in einer zur Faust geballten Hand: 19 Tote sind seiner Zählung nach bereits identifiziert.
"Zwölf sind schon weggebracht worden, die anderen werden jetzt verlegt", sagt der dicke Mann, dann hebt schon ein Sprechchor an. "Allahu Akbar", Gott ist groß, ruft die Menge und weicht beiseite, als Männer einen Toten auf ihren Schultern Richtung Ausgang tragen: Er ist eines der Opfer eines Massakers, das in Kairo, das in Ägypten, das in der ganzen Welt seit Tagen befürchtet wurde.
Seit die ägyptische Armeeführung am Sonntag angekündigt hatte, die beiden großen Protestlager, in denen die Anhänger der Muslimbrüder gegen die Absetzung ihres Präsidenten Mohammed Mursi protestierten, räumen zu wollen, war klar, dass das Nil-Land auf ein neues Blutbad zusteuerte. Dass sie sich nicht scheuen, tödliche Gewalt gegen die Anhänger der Islamisten anzuwenden, hatten die Sicherheitskräfte seit dem Militärputsch Anfang Juli mehrfach unter Beweis gestellt. Die blutigen Zusammenstöße, die Ägypten seitdem erschüttern, hatten bereits über 200 Tote gefordert, als Armee und Polizei im Morgengrauen des Mittwochs gegen die zwei Zeltstädte der Brüder vorrückten.
Blutigster Tag in der jüngeren Geschichte Ägyptens
Wie viele Opfer bis zum Abend dazugekommen waren, war bei Sonnenuntergang völlig unklar: Das Gesundheitsministerium bezifferte die Toten auf 149. Die Muslimbrüder hatten im Laufe des Tages von viel mehr, von bis zu 2000 Getöteten berichtet. Die Uno ging am Abend von vielen hundert Toten aus.
Ob sich je herausstellen wird, wie viele Menschen an diesem blutigsten Tag in der jüngeren Geschichte Ägyptens ihr Leben verloren, darf bezweifelt werden: Schon im Laufe des Tages zeichnete sich ab, dass die beiden verfeindeten Lager in Ägypten zwei diametral widersprechende Versionen der Ereignisse verbreiteten. Nach Angaben der Armee, der von ihr eingesetzten Regierung und den von ihr kontrollierten Medien waren es die Muslimbrüder, die sich der Räumung ihrer Camps mit Waffengewalt widersetzten und so das Blutvergießen auslösten. Nach Aussagen der Muslimbrüder hingegen walzten die Sicherheitskräfte ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste zwei friedliche Sit-ins nieder, während Soldaten Tränengas, Schrot und scharfe Munition in die Menge schossen.
Die Wahrheit liegt irgendwo dazwischen, wobei wohl niemand bezweifelt, dass Armee und Polizei für die meisten Toten verantwortlich sind. Ihr Hinweis auf die Notwendigkeit zur Selbstverteidigung ist wackelig: Zwar gibt es Bilder von Zivilisten mit Gewehren, doch den Beweis, dass die Muslimbrüder koordiniert und in großem Stil Schusswaffen eingesetzt haben, ist die Armee bislang schuldig geblieben.
Den ägyptischen Medien ist das egal: Sie berichten gleichgeschaltet und unhinterfragt, was die Führung vorgibt. Wenn die Muslimbrüder ihre Version der Ereignisse darstellen wollen, bleiben ihnen nur die ausländischen Medien - deshalb bestehen sie darauf, dass sich Reporter Leichen anschauen.
Die von der Masse der ägyptischen Bevölkerung unterstützte Armeeführung wollte sich mit dem Sturm auf die Protestlager ein schwelendes Problem vom Hals schaffen: Das ist erst einmal missglückt. Denn statt nach Hause zu gehen, besetzten die Mursi-Anhänger andere, kleinere Plätze in Kairo. Statt zwei großen Sit-ins haben Polizei und Armee es nun mit vielen kleinen Sit-Ins zu tun. Schon verbreiten sich die Proteste in anderen Städten des Landes: In Ägypten droht ein Flächenbrand der Gewalt.
"Heute Nacht beginnt der Krieg"
Vor der Mustafa Mahmud Moschee hatten sich am Abend vielleicht 4000 Mursi-Anhänger versammelt, die von ihrem Sit-in vor der nahen Universität von Kairo vertrieben worden waren. Die Moschee liegt in einem Oberklasse-Viertel, das durch die Spuren der Kämpfe seltsam entstellt war. Vor einem Laden, in dem Whirlpools verkauft werden, hatten die Ketten von Panzerfahrzeugen den Asphalt aufgerissen. Vor einem Juwelier trat man auf die Patronenhülsen von AK-47 Sturmgewehren, wie sie die ägyptische Polizei benutzt. Fensterglas bedeckte Bürgersteige, an manchen Stellen trockneten Blutlachen. Erschöpfte Männer und heulende Frauen saßen im Schatten, viele beteten, versuchten, sich für die Nacht zu wappnen.
"Wenn es dunkel wird, werden Armee und Polizei wieder kommen", sagte Mahmud Lutfi, der die Kämpfe des Tages an seinem Arbeitsplatz, einem Geschäft für edle Badezimmer, überstanden hatte. Die reichen Anwohner des Viertels würden sicher ihre Beziehungen spielen lassen, um die Islamisten daran zu hindern, sich in Mohandesin einzunisten, sagt Lutfi, der sich als Anhänger Mursis zu erkennen gab. "Heute Nacht beginnt der Krieg zwischen den zwei Ägypten."
Nie war Ägypten dem Bürgerkrieg näher
Warum diese Gewalt? Das Massaker des gestrigen Tages war ein Wendepunkt für Ägypten. Dem Land steht Schlimmeres bevor als nur die Rückkehr eines Mubarak-artigen Regimes. Von Michael Thumann
Ägypten lässt sich den Sturz von Mohammed Mursi etwas kosten. Sechs Wochen nachdem der demokratisch gewählte islamistische Präsident aus dem Amt geputscht wurde, hat die Gewalt das Land fest im Griff: Panzereinsätze gegen Unbewaffnete, Sniper-Schüsse gegen Protestierende, Leichen auf der Straße. Seit dem 14. August, dem blutigsten Tag der ägyptischen Konterrevolution, herrscht der Ausnahmezustand. So sah Syrien 2011 zu Beginn des Bürgerkrieges aus.
Die hilflosen Liberalen und Säkularen in Ägypten zeigen jetzt auf die Muslimbrüder, die nicht einsehen wollen, dass ihr Präsident abgesetzt ist. Die massenhaft Kasernen und Ministerien belagern und blockieren. Und dann fügen die Liberalen noch hinzu, dass sie ja niemals Gewalt wollten. Dieser Katzenjammer ist entweder ungeheuerlich naiv oder schlicht zynisch.
Der Putsch vom 3. Juli hat zum tausendsten Mal in der Geschichte gezeigt: Wer eine demokratisch gewählte Regierung mit Gewalt abräumt, erntet Gewalt. Erstaunlich, wie viele Politiker und Beobachter im Westen diese alte Weisheit übersahen. Beklemmend, wie viele ägyptische Liberalen annahmen, die Muslimbrüder würden sich ohne monatelange Proteste dem Coup d’état vom 3. Juli unterwerfen. Schockierend, dass sich ein aufgeklärter Mann wie der Friedensnobelpreisträger Mohammed Elbaradei den Putschtruppen anschloss. Hintergangen, entsetzt und beschämt trat ElBaradei gestern von seinem Posten als Vizepräsident zurück. Der 14. August war der donnernde Weckruf für die Liberalen aus ihrer wochenlangen Trance: Bis dahin schien die nicht-islamistische Opposition in Ägypten blind ihrem neuen Herrscher, General Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, zu folgen.
Die Bürgerrechte sind aufgehoben
Ägypten ist in der Woche sieben der Konterrevolution rechtlich wieder in der Mubarak-Zeit angelangt. Die Bürgerrechte sind faktisch aufgehoben, die Polizei kann jeden auf der Straße niederknüppeln oder erschießen, wenn nötig. Die Richter können jederzeit kurzen Prozess machen und Bürger auf unbestimmte Zeit wegsperren. Führer der Muslimbrüder sitzen im Gefängnis. Züge und Straßen sind gesperrt.
Die neuen Machthaber um General al-Sissi und ihre liberalen Verbündeten müssen sich fragen: Was ist eigentlich gegen Demos und Sit-ins als Protestform einzuwenden? Überall in der Welt gibt es derlei Demonstrationen, als Protest gegen soziale, politische, lokale Missstände. Was hätte es die Übergangsregierung gekostet, die Proteste und Blockaden der Muslimbrüder mithilfe der Polizei zu ertragen, so wie Mohammed Mursi zuvor die Proteste und Sabotagen der Säkularen ertragen hat? Unter Mursi starben keine Demonstranten. Am 14. August haben Armee und Sicherheitskräfte zwei große Sit-ins aufgelöst, nur um viele kleine im ganzen Land zu schaffen. Die Zahl der Toten seit dem Putsch vom 3. Juli geht in die Hunderte.
Und deshalb steht Ägypten nun Schlimmeres bevor als nur die Rückkehr eines Mubarak-artigen Regimes auf den Bajonetten der Armee. Der Frieden ist dahin, der Weg zur Demokratie versperrt.
Kein Platz mehr für die Muslimbrüder
Bis zum 3. Juli waren die Muslimbrüder eine politische Organisation, mit einer Partei im Parlament und einer sozialen Bewegung als Basis. Alles deutet nun darauf hin, dass das Übergangsregime von General Sissi den politischen und sozialen Bewegungsspielraum der Bruderschaft radikal beschneiden will. Die Muslimbrüder bestehen auf der Wiedereinsetzung des inhaftierten Mohammed Mursi. Doch wohin sollen sich die Islamisten mit ihrem Protest wenden? Die Straßen sind versperrt, ein Parlament existiert nicht, Sit-ins werden mit aller Gewalt gesprengt. Al-Sissi bietet ihnen allein an, nachzugeben. Platz lässt er ihnen in der ägyptischen Gesellschaft nicht.
Wie sollen die Muslimbrüder darauf reagieren? Die Antwort zerreißt die Bruderschaft derzeit: Die einen sagen, dann reagieren wir auch mit Gewalt. Vereinzelte Mursi-Anhänger sollen schon Waffen auf die Demonstrationen gebracht haben. Islamistische Radikale haben in den vergangenen Stunden Kirchen angezündet. Die anderen sagen, Waffen und Feuer widersprechen unseren Grundsätzen. Offiziell sagen die Sprecher der Bruderschaft der Gewalt ab.
Hunderte Tote
Ägypten stürzt in blutiges Chaos
Ägypten im Ausnahmezustand: Nach den blutigen Straßenschlachten in Kairo und anderen Landesteilen steigt die Zahl der Toten. Trotzdem rufen die Muslimbrüder ihre Anhänger weiter zu Protesten auf.
In Ägypten eskaliert die Gewalt: Bei Zusammenstößen zwischen Sicherheitskräften und Anhängern des vom Militär gestürzten Präsidenten Mohammed Mursi sind nach offiziellen Angaben 235 Menschen getötet und mehr als 2000 verletzt worden. Nach Angaben des Innenministeriums kamen 43 Polizisten bei dem Einsatz ums Leben.
Im Morgengrauen waren staatliche Sicherheitskräfte gegen zwei durch Barrikaden gesicherte Protestlager auf dem Rabaa-al-Adawija-Platz und dem Al-Nahda-Platz in der Hauptstadt Kairo vorgerückt, auf denen Tausende Mursi-Sympathisanten seit Wochen dessen Wiedereinsetzung forderten. Ein AFP-Reporter zählte allein auf dem Rabaa-al-Adawija-Platz 124 Leichen. Viele der Opfer wiesen Schusswunden auf. Auch ein Kameramann des britischen Senders Sky News wurde erschossen.
Laut dem Sprecher des Gesundheitsministeriums wurden auf dem Rabaa-al-Adawija-Platz 61 Menschen getötet und 21 auf dem Al-Nahda-Platz. Nach dem Beginn der Räumung der Protestlager hatte die Gewalt rasch auf zahlreiche andere Städte übergegriffen. In der nördlichen Hafenstadt Alexandria gab es schwere Zusammenstöße, es waren lang anhaltende Schusswechsel zu hören.
Tränengaspatronen wie Regen niedergegangen
Die Regierung rief für einen Monat den Notstand aus, nachdem sich die Unruhen von Kairo auf andere Landesteile ausgeweitet hatten. In den großen Städten wurde eine nächtliche Ausgangssperre verhängt. Vizepräsident Mohammed al-Baradei reichte am Mittwoch aus Protest gegen die Gewalt seinen Rücktritt ein.
Die islamistischen Muslimbrüder riefen trotz des Blutvergießens ihre Anhänger erneut zu landesweiten Protesten auf. Armee und Polizei waren im Morgengrauen mit einem Großaufgebot angerückt, um die beiden Lager der Demonstranten in der Hauptstadt zu erstürmen. Sie setzten Tränengas ein, es wurde scharf geschossen. Planierraupen walzten unzählige Zelte auf dem Rabaa-al-Adawija-Platz im Nordosten der Hauptstadt nieder, wo Tausende Demonstranten seit sechs Wochen ausharrten und mit Mahnwachen und Sitzblockaden die Wiedereinsetzung Mursis gefordert hatten.
Die Einsatzkräfte rückten mit Panzerwagen nahezu zeitgleich beim Rabaa-Lager und dem kleineren Camp am Nilufer unweit der Universität Kairo an. Tränengaspatronen seien wie Regen niedergegangen, sagte der 20-jährige Student Chaled Ahmed. "Das ist eine Belagerung, ein Militärangriff auf ein Protestlager von Zivilisten." Das Fernsehen zeigte Bilder von Sicherheitskräften, die von Dächern aus das Feuer eröffneten. Der am Kopf blutende 39-jährige Saleh Abdulasis sagte, Polizisten und Soldaten hätten selbst dann noch geschossen, "als wir sie anbettelten aufzuhören."
Gewalt greift auf andere Städte über
Binnen weniger Stunden griff die Gewalt auf zahlreiche andere Städte und Regionen über. Betroffen waren Suez, Minja, Assiut und Alexandria sowie die südlich von Kairo gelegene Provinz Fajum.
Die Demonstranten setzten Regierungsgebäude in Brand und griffen Kirchen an. Auf Fernsehbildern war zu sehen, wie Mursi-Anhänger hinter Sandsackbarrikaden verborgen mit halbautomatischen Waffen auf Soldaten feuerten.
Vizepräsident al-Baradei erklärte in einem Brief an Übergangspräsident Adli Mansur, es habe gewaltlose Alternativen gegeben, um die politische Krise im Land zu beenden. "Es ist für mich schwierig geworden, weiter die Verantwortung für Entscheidungen zu treffen, mit denen ich nicht übereinstimme, und deren Auswirkungen mir Angst machen", erklärte er. "Ich kann nicht die Verantwortung für einen einzigen Tropfen Blut übernehmen." Nach Angaben der Regierung will kein Kabinettsmitglied zurücktreten.
Ausgangssperre für Kairo
In der Notstandverfügung forderte der Präsident die Armee auf, der Polizei bei der Wiederherstellung der Ordnung zu helfen. Menschenrechtlern zufolge hätten damit jetzt auch Soldaten das Recht, Personen festzunehmen. Für die Zeit zwischen 19.00 Uhr und 06.00 Uhr verhängte die Regierung zudem eine Ausgangssperre für Kairo und andere große Städte. Insgesamt seien elf der 27 Provinzen Ägyptens betroffen. Wer die Ausgangssperre verletze, werde mit Gefängnis bestraft. Hochrangige Mitglieder der Muslimbrüder wurden nach Angaben von Sicherheitskräften verhaftet.
Internationale Vermittlungsbemühungen waren gescheitert. Der Anfang Juli gestürzte Mursi kam im Juni 2012 als erster frei gewählter Präsident Ägyptens an die Macht. Gegner warfen ihm vor, gemeinsam mit den Muslimbrüdern eine Islamisierung des Landes voranzutreiben. Sie sahen die Ideale der Revolution von 2011 verraten, die zum Sturz des jahrzehntelangen Machthabers Husni Mubaraks geführt hatte.
Die EU und Deutschland mahnten zur Zurückhaltung. Der türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan forderte sofortige Schritte der Vereinten Nationen und der Arabischen Liga, um "das Massaker zu stoppen". UN-Generalsekretär Ban Ki-moon erklärte, Gewalt und Anstiftung zur Gewalt seien – egal von welcher Seite – nicht die Antworten auf die Herausforderungen, vor denen Ägypten stehe. Die USA verurteilten den Einsatz von Gewalt gegen die Demonstranten in Ägypten scharf. US-Außenminister John Kerry forderte, dass umgehend eine politische Lösung gefunden werden müsse.
Egitto, bagno di sangue: 525 morti
I fratelli musulmani: le vittime sono 4.500
Ma i sostenitori di Morsi: «È la nostra Tienanmen». Paese ad un passo dalla guerra civile dopo le dimissioni di ElBaradei
Sale di ora in ora il bilancio delle vittime degli scontri in Egitto. Secondo le ultime stime fornite dal ministero della salute i morti sarebbero 525, oltre 40 dei quali sono poliziotti. E poi ci sono almeno 3.500 feriti. Ma i fratelli musulmani continuano a insistere su cifre molto più alte, parlando addirittura di 4.500 vittime. «Rabaa - la piazza dei pro-Morsi sgomberata mercoledì al Cairo dai militari egiziani, ndr - è la nostra Tienanmen», afferma su Twitter il portavoce dei Fratelli Musulmani, Gehad El-Haddad, facendo propri alcuni titoli della stampa internazionale. La battaglia di cifre è proseguita anche dopo il coprifuoco che dopo le 21 di mercoledì ha smorzato la tensione e gli scontri tra manifestanti e forze di polizia. Il governo sostiene che sostenitori di Morsi sono stati smantellati e per questo è tornata la calma, ma nelle prossime ore le piazze egiziane potrebbero nuovamente accedersi.
GUERRA CIVILE - In ogni caso l'Egitto è di fronte a numeri da guerra civile. Mercoledì la giornata era iniziata con i carri armati dell'esercito schierati con i manifestanti pro Morsi. I cecchini alle finestre sparavano sulla folla, lacrimogeni, bombe a mano, si parla anche di armi tossiche. Ma i manifestanti, che fanno in larga parte riferimento ai Fratelli musulmani, hanno risposto, ribellandosi allo sgombero. La guerriglia iniziata al Cairo si è poi estesa anche ad altri città come Alessandria e in altri centri minori.
LA POLITICA LASCIA - In giornata sono poi arrivare le dimissioni del vice presidente ad interim della Repubblica Mohammad ElBaradei. «Presento le dimissioni dalla carica di vicepresidente - ha scritto - e chiedo a Dio l'altissimo che preservi il nostro caro Egitto da tutto il male, e che soddisfi le speranze e le aspirazioni del popolo». La decisione non è stata condivisa però da Tamarod, il cartello di forze che aveva chiesto e ottenuto la destituzione del presidente Morsi, che ha bollato la scelta delle dimissioni come una «fuga dalle proprie responsabilità». Anche i vice premier Hossam Eissa e Ziad Bahaa El-Din hanno presentato le loro dimissioni in segno di protesta e pare che in totale siano 8 gli alti dirigenti che abbiamo lasciato il posto.
CONVOCATO l'AMBASCIATORE - Il ministro degli Esteri, Emma Bonino, così come altri ministri degli Esteri europei, a partire da quello tedesco, ha convocato alla Farnesina l'Ambasciatore egiziano a Roma, Amr Mostafa Kamal Helmy, «in relazione ai gravissimi sviluppi della situazione in Egitto ed ai drammatici fatti di violenza». Sulla situazione in Egitto è intervenuto anche il nostro ministro della difesa, Mario Mauro. «L'Italia -afferma- deve fare tutti gli sforzi possibili per evitare all'Egitto il flagello della guerra civile». Mentre Il Cairo si prepara per una nuova giornata di guerriglia. Circa 3.000 Fratelli musulmani hanno eretto nuove barricate a Ebeid Street, non molto distante da piazza Rabaa, davanti alla moschea di al Iman. Lo riferiscono fonti sul posto.
GIORNATA DI GUERRA - Quella di mercoledì è stata una giornata carica di violenza a termine delle proteste animate dai Fratelli musulmani e dai sostenitori del deposto ex presidente Mohammed Morsi. Gas lacrimogeni dagli elicotteri che volano a bassa quota, agenti calati con le funi, cecchini che sparano sulla folla dai tetti degli edifici che circondano le due principali tendopoli create dai manifestanti. Il governo egiziano, sostenuto dai vertici militari, ha dichiarato lo stato di emergenza per almeno un mese (in vigore per 30 anni sotto Hosni Mubarak e tolto solo l'anno scorso), lasciando intendere interventi ancora più drastici per ristabilire la calma nel Paese, a cominciare dal coprifuoco: sul Cairo dalle 21 di mercoledì alle 6 di giovedì. Gli Stati Uniti hanno quindi diramato un comunicato ufficiale per «opporsi in modo fermo alla dichiarazione dello stato d'emergenza». Altra misura adottata è il coprifuoco che interesserà le province del Cairo, Giza, Alessandria, Beni Sueif, Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Sinai del Nord, Sinai del Sud, Suez, Ismailia e Beheira, oltre alle province di Qena e Fayoum.
GIORNALISTI UCCISI - Negli scontri sono rimasti uccisi anche un cameraman di Sky News, Mick Deane, di 62 anni, una giovane reporter di Xpress, del gruppo emiratino Gulf news, Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, 26 anni e il reporter egiziano Ahmed Abdel Gawad, che scriveva per il quotidiano di Stato egiziano Al Akhbar. L'organizzazione non governativa Reporter senza frontiere (Rsf) riferisce che diversi giornalisti egiziani, soprattutto fotografi, sono rimasti feriti negli scontri al Cairo mentre seguivano i violenti sgomberi dei sit-in pro Morsi vicino alla moschea di Rabaa Al-Adawiya e in piazza Mostafa Mahmoud.
BANCHE E MUSEI CHIUSI - Il paese cerca di difendersi come può: il governo ha annunciato lo stop delle linee ferroviarie, aeree, di banche e musei. Il ministro egiziano per le Antichità ha ordinato la chiusura fino a nuovo ordine di tutti i musei e i siti archelogici. In ogni caso ha deciso di togliere il coprifuoco nell'area dei resort sul Mar Rosso, nel Sud Sinai. La decisione dell'esecutivo è arrivata dopo la richiesta del ministro del Turismo Hisham Zaazoue affinchè «la città di Sharm el Sheikh possa offrire servizi ai turisti». Ieri, il sito Viaggiaresicuri della Farnesina aveva messo in guardia da possibili disagi anche nei resort turistici, in un nuovo avviso per gli italiani in viaggio nel Paese. La decisione del governo, su input del ministro del Turismo, è arrivata proprio per consentire alle località turistiche di garantire i propri servizi ai turisti. La scorsa settimana erano almeno 14.000 i turisti italiani nelle località del Mar Rosso.
15 agosto 2013 | 14:16
Egitto, è guerra civile: 525 i morti
Nuove barricate pro-Morsi al Cairo
La folla assedia il palazzo del governo
15/08/2013
I Fratelli musulmani: 4500 vittime.
Vertice d’emergenza dei ministri Ue
E la Bonino convoca l’ambasciatore
Macerie ovunque, brandelli di vestiti e tende, un odore acre di fumo e residuo di gas lacrimogeni: è piazza Rabaa, il simbolo della rivolta dei pro-Morsi, il giorno dopo lo sgombero forzato dei manifestanti. Decine di squadre di spazzini, caterpillar, camion, stanno ripulendo quel che resta della “cittadella” dell’Alleanza pro-Morsi dominata dai Fratelli musulmani. Gli islamisti però non si arrendono e tornano in piazza: circa 3.000 persone hanno eretto nuove barricate a Ebeid Street, non molto distante da piazza Rabaa, davanti alla moschea di al Iman al Cairo.
Il bilancio ufficiale, fornito dal governo ad interim, in tutto l’Egitto è di 525 morti. I Fratelli musulmani parlano invece di 4.500 morti, 1.000 nei governatorati esterni al Cairo, e hanno ribattezzato Rabaa la «Tiananmen egiziana». «La conta prosegue e anche l’identificazione in tre moschee, tre ospedali e due obitori»: ha annunciato via Twitter il portavoce dei Fratelli Musulmani, Gehad El-Haddad. E oggi si prepara un altro giorno di grande tensione, con i Fratelli musulmani che hanno indetto una nuova manifestazione al Cairo.
Decine di blindati presidiano le principali arterie della capitale: ai soldati che controllavano il rispetto del coprifuoco notturno, nel corso della notte si sono uniti i “residenti” che armati di bastoni e machete sorvegliano improvvisati check-point. Mentre le autorità hanno chiuso oggi il valico di Rafah con la Striscia di Gaza. A catena si susseguono le reazioni internazionali: il presidente francese Francois Hollande ha convocato all’Eliseo l’ambasciatore egiziano a Parigi, Mohamed Mostafa Kamal, per chiedere l’immediata fine della repressione e la revoca dello stato d’emergenza, proclamato ieri «per almeno un mese». Il premier turco Recep Tayyip Erdogan ha chiesto invece che il Consiglio di sicurezza dell’Onu «si riunisca rapidamente», accusando «coloro che restano in silenzio davanti a questo massacro» di essere «colpevoli tanto quanto chi lo ha compiuto.
ECCO GLI AGGIORNAMENTI IN DIRETTA
14.53 - VERTICE D’EMERGENZA DEI MINISTRI UE
(ANSA) - ROMA, 15 AGO - «È in corso una consultazione permanente con i partner europei. Ed è prevista una riunione del consiglio dei ministri degli Esteri lunedì o martedì». Lo annuncia ad Affaritaliani.it il ministro degli Esteri Emma Bonino, interpellata per un commento sui tragici fatti che stanno insanguinando l’Egitto.
14.52 - CORTEI AD ALESSANDRIA
Dimostranti pro-Morsi stanno dimostrando ad Alessandria d’Egitto. Lo riferiscono fonti sul posto. I manifestanti hanno organizzato un corteo lungo una delle arterie principali della città, portano i ritratti di Morsi e scandiscono slogan contro le Forze armate e il ministro dell’Interno.
14.33 - GIZA E SINAI
Centinaia di dimostranti pro-Morsi hanno attaccato con bottiglie Molotov la sede del governatorato di Giza, al Cairo. L’edificio è in fiamme. Lo riferiscono testimoni. Intanto un poliziotto di 21 anni è stato ucciso da uomini armati ad al Arish, in Sinai. Sconosciuti hanno attaccato un club dei militari nella città, uccidendo l’agente a colpi d’arma da fuoco.
14.25 - REVOCATO IL COPRIFUOCO SUL MAR ROSSO
Il governo provvisorio ha deciso di togliere il coprifuoco nell’area dei resort sul Mar Rosso, nel Sud Sinai. Lo riferiscono fonti. La decisione dell’esecutivo è arrivata dopo la richiesta del ministro del Turismo Hisham Zaazoue affinché «la città di Sharm el Sheikh possa offrire servizi ai turisti». Ieri, il sito Viaggiaresicuri della Farnesina aveva messo in guardia da possibili disagi anche nei resort turistici, in un nuovo avviso per gli italiani in viaggio nel Paese. La decisione del governo, su input del ministro del Turismo, è arrivata proprio per consentire alle località turistiche di garantire i propri servizi ai turisti. La scorsa settimana erano almeno 14.000 i turisti italiani nelle località del Mar Rosso.
14.00 - NUOVE BARRICATE AL CAIRO
Circa 3.000 Fratelli musulmani hanno eretto nuove barricate a Ebeid Street, non molto distante da piazza Rabaa, davanti alla moschea di al Iman al Cairo. Lo riferiscono fonti sul posto.
13.35 - LONDRA: PREOCCUPAZIONE
Londra ha convocato l’ambasciatore egiziano per esprimere la sua «profonda preoccupazione» dopo le violenze che hanno provocato più di 500 morti nel Paese e ha chiesto alle autorità di agire «con la massima moderazione». Lo ha annunciato il ministero degli Esteri britannico. «Ieri abbiamo convocato l’ambasciatore egiziano per esprimere la nostra profonda preoccupazione sull’escalation della violenza in Egitto», ha detto un portavoce del Foreign Office.
13.42 - QUATTRO I GIORNALISTI UCCISI
Sono 4 i giornalisti uccisi ieri al Cairo, tra i quali un cameraman di Skynews, due croniste e un collega egiziano. Lo ha denunciato il segretario del sindacato dei giornalisti, Gamal Abdel Rehim, alla Tv di Stato egiziana, chiedendo l’apertura di una inchiesta. I quattro giornalisti uccisi nel corso degli scontri a Rabaa e Nahda, secondo l’elenco fornito da Rehim, sono Mick Dean, SkyNews di 61 anni, Habiba Ahmed, Revue Express Dubai di 26 anni, Ahmed Abdel Gawad, del quotidiano filo-governativo al Akhbar, Mosaab el Shami, fotografo del sito Rasd. Rehim non ha fornito i nomi dei feriti.
13.20 - IL BILANCIO
E’ salito a 525 morti il bilancio delle vittime causate dalle violenze di ieri in Egitto. Lo ha reso noto un portavoce del ministero della Salute. Di questi 43 erano poliziotti.
12.23 - ROMA CONVOCA L’AMBASCIATORE
Il ministro degli Esteri, Emma Bonino, ha convocato per il pomeriggio di oggi alla Farnesina l’Ambasciatore egiziano a Roma, Amr Mostafa Kamal Helmy, in relazione ai gravissimi sviluppi della situazione in Egitto ed ai drammatici fatti di violenza verificatisi ieri. Lo rende noto la Farnesina.
11.51 - L’APPELLO DEL PAPA
«Giungono purtroppo notizie dolorose dall’Egitto: desidero assicurare la mia preghiera per le vittime, i loro familiari, i feriti e quanti soffrono», «preghiamo insieme per la pace, il dialogo e la riconciliazione in quella cara terra e nel mondo intero». Così il Papa prima dell’Angelus.
11.30 - LA SFIDA DELLA FRATELLANZA
I Fratelli musulmani hanno indetto una nuova manifestazione oggi, in una piazza a Giza, non lontano da Nahda, una delle piazze simbolo dei pro-Morsi sgomberata ieri. Lo annuncia un comunicato della Confraternita.
11.18 - CHIUSI I VALICHI
Le autorità egiziane hanno chiuso il valico di Rafah tra l’Egitto e la Striscia di Gaza, a partire da oggi fino a nuovo ordine.
11.06 - RABAA SVENTRATA
Piazza Rabaa, simbolo della rivolta pro-Morsi, appare letteralmente sventrata: macerie ovunque, colpi di arma da fuoco sui palazzi, la moschea con i segni delle fiamme, centinaia di spazzini al lavoro tra i blindati e i militari della guardia presidenziale che presidiano tutta l’area. Lo ha constatato ANSA sul posto.
10.49 - IL BILANCIO
Un portavoce del ministero della Salute egiziano ha innalzato ulteriormente il bilancio dei morti delle violenze di ieri, portandolo a 421 persone. A questi si aggiungono i 43 poliziotti uccisi, secondo il ministero dell’Interno.
10.41 MAURO: EVITARE GUERRA CIVILE
«L’Italia deve fare tutti gli sforzi possibili per evitare all’Egitto il flagello della guerra civile». Lo ha detto il ministro della Difesa Mario Mauro parlando a RaiNews in collegamento dalla scuola della marina militare de La Maddalena, in Sardegna.
9.40 - ERDOGAN IN CAMPO
«Coloro che restano in silenzio davanti a questo massacro sono colpevoli tanto quanto chi lo ha compiuto. Il Consiglio di sicurezza dell’Onu deve riunirsi rapidamente». Lo ha detto il premier turco Recep Tayyip Erdogan sulla repressione delle piazze pro-Morsi in Egitto.
09.00 EMIRATI E BAHREIN
Gli Emirati arabi uniti e il regno di Bahrein dichiarano il loro sostegno all’operazione della polizia e dell’esercito egiziani contro i manifestanti al Cairo e lanciano un appello alla riconciliazione nazionale secondo la «road map» del governo ad interim.
07.00 - “4.500 MORTI”
È di «oltre 4.500 morti il bilancio, la conta prosegue e anche l’identificazione in tre moschee, tre ospedali e 2 obitori»: lo riferisce via Twitter il portavoce dei Fratelli Musulmani, Gehad El-Haddad, dopo lo sgombero delle piazze dei pro-Morsi al Cairo e altre vittime nel Paese. Non è possibile verificare indipendentemente la notizia. «Oltre 1.000 morti si contano negli scontri fuori dal Cairo, in tutto il Paese», aggiunge Gehad El-Haddad. Il bilancio ufficiale, fornito dal ministero della Salute egiziano, è fermo a 278 vittime, tra i quale 43 agenti.
02.00 - LA CITTA’ FANTASMA
Il Cairo spettrale nelle ore centrali del coprifuoco, scattato ieri alle 19: blindati dei militari presidiano le principali arterie intorno ai luoghi considerati strategici, mentre residenti armati di bastoni e machete sorvegliano improvvisati check-point lungo le strade laterali. Completamente isolate le piazze Rabaa e Nahda, così come Tahrir.
LA GIORNATA DI GUERRA
È caos in Egitto. Dopo i raid simultanei lanciati stamattina dalle forze di sicurezza per sgomberare i sit-in dei sostenitori di Mohammed Morsi al Cairo, vere e proprie battaglie di strada sono scoppiate per le strade della capitale e in altre città del Paese. L’ultimo bilancio ufficiale è di 278 morti e 2.001 feriti, soprattutto fra i civili. Vittime anche fra i giornalisti. Tre reporter sono rimasti uccisi: si tratta di un cameraman di Sky News, di una giornalista del gruppo Gulf News e di un reporter del quotidiano di Stato egiziano Al-Akhbar. Numerosi anche i giornalisti feriti, tra cui un fotografo di AP e una fotografa di Reuters. La presidenza dell’Egitto ha dichiarato lo stato di emergenza per un mese e il governo ha imposto, sempre per un mese, il coprifuoco dalle 19 alle 6 di mattina al Cairo e in 10 province. A seguito di questi annunci, nel pomeriggio, il premio Nobel Mohammed ElBaradei si è dimesso da vice presidente.