Islamist protests descended into a bloodbath
across Egypt yesterday, with around 50 killed
in Cairo alone on a “Day of Rage” called by
followers of ousted President Mohamed Mursi
to denounce a crackdown by the army-backed
government.
As automatic gunfire echoed across Cairo, the
standoff seemed to be sliding ever faster
towards armed confrontation, evoking past
conflict between militant Islamists and the
state in the most populous Arab nation.
According to reports by Reuters, more than 40
people were also killed in provincial cities,
taking the overall toll close to 100, although
the intense shooting eventually died down in
Cairo at dusk as a curfew began.
While Western governments urged restraint
after hundreds died when security forces
cleared protest camps two days ago, Saudi
Arabia’s King Abdullah endorsed the
government’s tactics against the Muslim
Brotherhood, saying on Friday his nation stood
with Egypt in its battle against “terrorism”.
Army helicopters hovered low over supporters
of Mursi’s Brotherhood in Ramses Square, the
theatre of much of yesterday’s bloodshed in
Cairo, black smoke billowing from at least one
huge blaze which lit up the night sky after
sundown.
A witness saw the bodies of 27 people,
apparently hit by gunfire and birdshot,
wrapped in white sheets in a mosque. Another
said security forces opened fire from
numerous directions when a police station was
attacked.
A security official said 24 policemen had been
killed and 15 police stations attacked since late
Thursday, underlining the increasing ferocity
of the violence.
Egyptian state media have hardened their
rhetoric against the Brotherhood – which ruled
Egypt for a year until the army removed Mursi
on July 3 – invoking language used to describe
militant groups such as al Qaeda and
suggesting there is little hope of a political
resolution to the crisis.
“Egypt fighting terrorism,” said a logo on state
television.
Showing no sign of wanting to back down, the
Brotherhood announced a further week of
nationwide protests.
Islamists have periodically been in conflict
with the Egyptian military for decades.
Nationalist General Gamal Abdel Nasser staged
a crackdown on the Brotherhood in the 1950s
and another followed before and after the
1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat by
fundamentalist officers. In the 1990s militants
waged a bloody campaign for an Islamic state.
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