Emergency declared after crackdown in Egypt

Cairo: Riot police swept in with armoured vehicles, bulldozers and helicopters on Wednesday to clear two sprawling encampments of supporters of ousted President Mohammad Mursi, sparking running street battles elsewhere in Cairo and other Egyptian cities.

Death

At least 149 people were killed, many of them in the assaults on the protest vigils. Interim President Adly Mansour declared a month-long state of emergency, ordering the armed forces to support the police in efforts to restore law and order and protect state facilities.

Resignation

Interim Vice-President Mohammad Al Baradei announced his resignation following the clashes.

The health ministry said 95 people were killed and 874 injured across the country. An interior ministry statement last night said 43 policemen were killed in clashes and vowed to not to allow any protest camps.

John Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday urged Egypt’s military to allow elections and for all sides to avoid further violence. Denouncing the crackdown on supporters of Mursi, Kerry urged a “peaceful, democratic way forward.”

“The interim government and the military — which together possess the preponderance of power in this confrontation — have a unique responsibility to prevent further violence and to offer constructive options for an inclusive peaceful process across the political spectrum,” Kerry said. “This includes amending the constitution and holding parliamentary and presidential elections, which the interim government itself has called for.”

Interim prime minister Hazem Al Beblawi praised police for their “self-restraint” yesterday­ and said the country remains committed to an army-drafted roadmap which calls for elections in 2014. However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office called the crackdown “a serious blow to the hopes of a return to democracy.”
Clashes started at the main site near the Rabaa Al Adawiya mosque that has served as the epicentre of the pro-Mursi campaign. Clashes also broke out elsewhere in the capital and other provinces across the country, injuring more than 800 people nationwide, as Islamist anger over the crackdown spread, with police stations, government buildings and Coptic Christian churches attacked or set ablaze. 

The smaller of the two camps was cleared of protesters by late morning, with most of them taking refuge in the nearby Orman botanical gardens on the campus of Cairo University and the zoo.

The private ONTV network showed firearms and rounds of ammunition allegedly seized from protesters there. Security forces later stormed the larger camp in the Cairo district of Nasr City and were closing in on the Rabaa Al Adawiya Mosque that has served as the epicentre of pro-Mursi campaign.

An alliance of pro-Mursi groups says the 17-year-old daughter of senior Brotherhood Mohammad Al Beltagy was killed. Asmaa was shot to death.

The pro-Mursi Anti-Coup alliance claimed that security forces used live ammunition, but the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, said its forces only used tear gas and that they came under fire from the camp.

It said it would guarantee safe passage to all who want to leave the Nasr City site but would arrest those wanted for questioning by prosecutors. Army troops did not take part in the two operations, but provided security at the locations.

• Quick facts

1. Mohammad Mursi became Egypt’s first freely elected leader in June 2012, but failed to tackle deep economic malaise and worried many Egyptians with apparent efforts to tighten Islamist rule.
2. Liberals and young Egyptians staged huge rallies demanding that he resign, and the army said it removed him in response to the will of the people.
3. Mursi’s Brotherhood movement, suppressed for decades under Mubarak, staged sit-in protests and mass marches across Egypt in response, and said they would continue until the deposed leader was reinstated.