While Egypt's Interior Minister had earlier denied police opened fire on protesters, the Health Minister confirmed the death of at least 65 people, for which the Muslim Brotherhood blame army chief General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Security forces clashed with supporters of Egypt’s ousted president early Saturday, killing at least 65 protesters, the Health Ministry said, in the country’s bloodiest incidence of violence since the military deposed Mohammed Morsi.
In chaotic scenes, pools of blood stained the floor and bodies were lined up under white sheets in a makeshift hospital near the site of the battles in eastern Cairo as doctors struggled to cope with the flood of dozens of wounded.
The extent of the carnage underlined the willingness of police to unleash deadly firepower against any expansion of Islamistled protests demanding the reinstatement of Morsi. Military-backed authorities are feeling emboldened after millions turned out for nationwide rallies Friday called by the army chief in support of a tough hand against what he called “terrorism.”
Interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a longtime pro-democracy campaigner who backed the military’s ouster of Morsi, raised one of the few notes of criticism of the bloodshed in the new military-backed leadership.
“I highly condemn the excessive use of force and the fall of victims,” he wrote in a tweet, though he did not directly place blame for the use of force. He added that he is “working very hard and in all directions to end this confrontation in a peaceful
manner.”
The bloodshed also pointed to the Islamists’ readiness to challenge the security forces as Morsi’s supporters try to win over public support for their cause.
The fighting, which began before dawn and stretched out over several hours, was the deadliest bouts of violence since the military ousted Morsi on July 3 in the wake of massive protests demanding his removal. Soon after Morsi’s fall, more than 50 of his supporters were killed in a similar outbreak of violence outside a headquarters of the Republican Guard. leading figure of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed el-Beltagy, blamed the violence on army chief Gen. AbdelFattah el-Sissi’s call for rallies on Friday.
“This is the mandate el-Sissi took last night - to commit massacres and bloodshed against peaceful protesters denouncing the military coup,” el-Beltagy said in a statement on his Facebook page.
The clashes began after a crowd of Morsi supporters late Friday moved out of their main sit-in camp where they have been located for nearly three weeks, in front of the Rabaah al-Adawiyah Mosque.
Some of them installed themselves on a nearby major boulevard, blocking traffic. They began to set up tents there, planning to stay there at least three days, said Mahmoud Zaqzouq, a Brotherhood spokesman. Others went up on a nearby highway overpass, he told The Associated Press.
Police moved in and fired tear gas to break up the crowds at around 2 a.m., and protesters responded with volleys of stones in battles near a memorial to former President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated in 1981.
Gunshots also rang out, seemingly from both sides, said one witness, Mosa’ab Elshamy, a freelance photographer, thoughhe could not tell who started firing.
Armed residents of the area also joined the police side, and there were also plainclothes police carrying handguns, he said.
The security forces “felt a bit more unrestrained than other times,” said Elshamy, who has extensively covered other clashes with police the past two years. “It was clear they had no restraints.”
Ragab Nayel Ali, one of the pro-Morsi protesters, said security forces fired first with tear gas and birdshot. “Protesters replied by hurling rocks and started building walls,” said Ali, who was injured in an accident as he ferried wounded on his motorcycle from the fighting to a field hospital.
At the makeshift clinic set up at the Rabaah al-Adawiya encampment, men shouted “God is great,” and women wailed as bodies were loaded into ambulances to be taken for examination at hospitals. Bodies of more than a dozen men lay on the blood-splattered floor with white sheets over them.
“They aimed at killing the people. They aimed the head and the neck,” said Ahmed Abdullah, a doctor at the field clinic, as he wiped tears from his eyes.
A medical official at a nearby hospital said many of those killed had bullet wounds at chest level or higher. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Health Ministry spokesman Khaled el-Khateeb said that at least 65 people were killed in the violence. Nine more were killed in clashes in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria since Friday, he said. Nationwide, nearly 750 people were wounded in
