Posts
RT,
15
August, 2013
Scores
are dead as Egypt descends into chaos following a brutal crackdown on
massive sit-ins in support of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Morsi
supporters have been rallying since July 3 demanding his
reinstatement.
21:28
GMT:
Security forces are firing tear gas at protestors at al Iman mosque
in Nasr city, Al Jazeera reports. Shots have also been heard.
The
bodies of more than 600 people who have been killed are being held at
Mosques in and around Cairo. Rows of corpses are laid out on the
floor in white shrouds and piled with blocks of ice at the al Iman
mosque, where relatives have flocked to grieve over the dead.
FJP
say police force besiege El-Eman mosque. I visited it today - it
contains 100s of dead morsi supporters. Anyone got any further info?
30
РЕТВИТОВ 3
ИЗБРАННЫХ
21:00
GMT:
Egypt decided to recall its ambassador from Turkey for consultations,
the state news agency reported on Thursday, after Ankara announced
the same move.
"Nabil
Fahmy, the foreign minister, decided to recall Egypt's ambassador in
Ankara, Abdel Rahman Salah, for consultations,"
the state news agency reported, giving no further details.
20:48
GMT:
As unrest in Egypt continues a number of foreign companies have
temporarily closed their operations in the country.
Toyota
Motor and Suzuki Motor halted production on Thursday out of safety
concerns, Nikkei reports. Sumitomo Electric Industries of Japan
evacuated expatriates from the country.
Sweden’s
Electrolux home appliances manufacturer that employees 7,000 people
in Egypt, has reportedly also stopped production processes at several
factories, International Business Times reports.
General
Motors closed its assembly plant outside Cairo while Royal Dutch
Shell shut its offices for the next few days and restricted business
travel. In the meantime the country’s stock exchange and banks
remain closed.
20:29
GMT:
The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors at 23:30 Egypt
Time (21:30 GMT) to discuss the situation in Egypt. The meeting was
jointly requested by France, the UK and Australia.
20:18
GMT:
Following strong criticism of the Egyptian authorities over
Wednesday’s clashes by Anakara, Turkey’s ambassador, Hüseyin
Avni Botsali, to Egypt has been recalled for consultations, Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan said Thursday.
20:14
GMT:
Egypt's ambassador in the UK has told reporters at a news conference
that many pro-Morsi protesters were armed during Wednesday’s
clashes, therefore authorities had the right to respond with deadly
force. He also suggested that in some cases protesters had shot one
another to make their point.
"They
(protesters) got what they wanted, they showed they were the
victims,"
Ambassador Ashraf ElKholy said.
19:40
GMT:
Egypt's Christian minority faces reprisal attacks after the army's
crackdown on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, Senior UN
human rights officials say.
“A
number of Christian churches and institutions have been targeted,
including in the provinces of Assiut, Fayoum, Minya and Sohag,
reportedly in retaliation to the incidents in Cairo,"
UN special advisors Adama Dieng and Jennifer Welsh said in statement,
condemning the violence by the military and urging the sides to “take
all possible steps to facilitate peaceful resolution of disputes in
the country."
19:35
GMT:
Egypt’s foreign ministry held a meeting with foreign reporters,
explaining Wednesday’s dispersal of two large camps of pro-Morsi
supporters, local Ahram paper reports.
Egyptian officials
stressed that the decision to end the sit-ins came after a failure of
negotiations and efforts by all sides, including the international
community, to peacefully end the sit-ins.
Aerial footage of the
dispersals was also shown, including a video of protesters using live
ammunition against the security forces.
19:33
GMT:
The death toll in Wednesday’s violence in Egypt has risen to 638
people, with 3,994 injured, AP reports citing the country’s
Health Ministry.
19:00
GMT:
The US State Department has warned the American citizens not to
travel to Egypt and called on those already there to leave the
country where at least 578 people were killed in clashes between the
army and pro-Morsi protesters, AFP reports.
18:37 GMT: Senior European Union diplomats will meet in Brussels on Monday to assess the situation in Egypt and possible EU action, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. The diplomats will discuss convening EU foreign ministers, but no decision on when the FMs would meet has been taken.
18:31
GMT:
Australia, the UK and France have requested an emergency meeting of
the UN Security Council in order to discuss the deteriorating
situation in Egypt. According to sources, the meeting may be held in
the coming hours.
18:22
GMT:
578 people were killed in an Egyptian military crackdown on
supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, Reuters
reports citing the country’s Health Ministry.
17:50
GMT:
Egypt's Interior Ministry has authorised the use of live ammunition
by police against protesters attacking government buildings,
according to a statement on Thursday.
"The
interior ministry has instructed all forces to use live ammunition to
counter any attacks on government buildings or forces,"
it said.
17:48
GMT:
The cabinet cancels shortening curfew hours. The curfew imposed in
Cairo and 13 other major cities will still begin at 7pm local time
(1700 GMT) and last till 6am, Egypt's interim authorities said in a
statement.
17:47
GMT:
The US is outraged by attacks on Coptic Churches in Egypt, said US
state Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, who added that the US also
condemns the attack on a government building in Giza. The country
will continue reviewing its aid policy to Egypt.
17:25
GMT:
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Egypt on Thursday that the US
remains ready to work with all parties to ensure a peaceful way
forward is achieved in the country. In a call to Egyptian army chief
General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, he said that the Pentagon would
maintain military ties with the country.
"But
I made it clear that the violence and inadequate steps towards
reconciliation are putting important elements of our longstanding
defense cooperation at risk,"
Hagel said in a statement to Reuters.
16:21
GMT:
Curfew in Cairo and 13 other cities is to be shortened, the
government said in a statement. It will start at 9pm local time,
instead of 7pm, and will be lifted at 6am.
16:20
GMT:
EU ministers are to meet next week to discuss the situation in Egypt,
said Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino.
“We
tried to mediate together with the United States, but it failed
because the military accepted no compromises,”
Bonino commented to the website Affaritaliani.it. “A
meeting of EU foreign ministers is foreseen for Monday or Tuesday.”
The
gathering has not yet been finalized, but ministers are expected to
say yes.
16:19
GMT:
Seven Egyptian soldiers have been killed near the city of El-Arish,
North Sinai, having been shot to death by gunmen according to medical
sources quoted by Reuters. A further five were injured in a different
occurrence of gunfire when an army tent was struck with bullets.
Egyptians
search through the debris at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo on
August 15, 2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of
supporters of the Egypt's ousted Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi the
previous day. (AFP Photo)
15:41
GMT:
Live ammunition will be used to repulse any attack on public
buildings or security forces, Egyptian state TV reports the Interior
Ministry as saying.
15:20
GMT:
The interim government said it is ready to combat "terrorist
acts"
by the Muslim Brotherhood. A government statement said it saw a
"criminal
plan to demolish the pillars of the Egyptian state."
However, the government also said it was seeking an "inclusive
political process"
open to anyone who was not involved in violence.
14:40
GMT: US
President Barack Obama has called off joint US-Egypt military drills
which had been scheduled to take place next month. The biannual
Bright Star exercise is central to US-Egyptian relations since it
began some three decades ago. Obama condemned the “steps
that have been taken by Egypt’s interim government and security
forces”
and said "the
cycle of violence and escalation"
needs to be stopped.
14:22
GMT:
I
can't tweet pictures as they are too graphic, brains spilling out of
skulls, charred corpses, teenagers who lost a section of their head
147
РЕТВИТОВ 8
ИЗБРАННЫХ
14:20
GMT:
At least three people were killed and 55 others injured when Muslim
Brotherhood supporters clashed with local residents at a rally in
Alexandria, reports Al Arabiya.
13:45
GMT:
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called on
Egypt to “step
back from the brink of disaster.”
The plea was aimed at all sides involved in the conflict. However,
Pillay said that they death toll indicated that “an
excessive, even extreme use of force”
had been employed against demonstrators and said that those
responsible for deaths should be held to account.
13:26
GMT:
Hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters have stormed a government building
in Egypt’s third largest city of Giza. They threw Molotov cocktails
and fired shots at the building, setting it on fire. The interior
ministry says all government employees were evacuated before the
siege began.
11:35 GMT: The detention of ousted President Mohamed Morsi was extended for another 30 days, MENA news agency reported. The president is being held in an undisclosed location. European officials visited him during the recent international attempt at mediation and confirmed he is alive and well.
11:30 GMT: Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood outside Egypt took to the streets of cities around the world to voice their support for the movement amid athe security crackdown. Demonstrations were held Thursday in Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait and Turkey, with protesters calling for an end of military rule and reinstatement of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
11:14 GMT:
GMT 10:44: A group of 19 tourists from Poland have been stranded in their Egyptian holiday resort due to the ongoing turmoil in the country, Polish television channel TVN24 reported. They were supposed to leave the country via the Al Nakb Airport in the Sinai Peninsula, but the roads from their resort were blocked. On Wednesday, the Polish Foreign Ministry warned its citizens to be cautious while visiting Egypt.
10:32 GMT: Egypt’s Ambassador to Britain, Ashraf El Kholy, has been called in to the Foreign Office to hear London’s concerns over the violence in Egypt.
10:16 GMT: Military prosecutors are to investigate 84 people from the city of Suez, including some Muslim Brotherhood members, over allegations of murder and burning down Christian churches, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
10:11 GMT: Germany has summoned Egyptian Ambassador Mohamed Abdelhamid Ibrahim Higazy to explain the Egyptian government’s violent crackdown on the opposition. Germany sees the most important task now as preventing an escalation of violence, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
09:50 GMT: Al-Jazeera reported seeing more than 250 bodies killed at Wednesday’s protest camps stored at a mosque in northeast Cairo. Egypt’s Health Ministry’s latest death toll currently stands at 421, based on a body count of corpses transported to hospitals and morgues.
09:15 GMT: The Muslim Brotherhood announced plans to hold a protest march on Thursday in defiance of the government’s crackdown and state of emergency.
"Marches are planned this afternoon from Al-Iman mosque to protest the deaths," the Islamist group said in a statement.
09:00 GMT: France has called on Egyptian Ambassador Nasser Ahmed Kamel to explain Wednesday’s security crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. French President Hollande urged action "to avoid civil war" in Egypt. Earlier, France joined an international chorus of condemnation of the violence.
08:43 GMT: Egypt has closed its border crossing with the Gaza Strip indefinitely, citing the deteriorating security situation, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported, citing a source in the Gaza Strip. The move comes after increasing violence in the Sinai Peninsula, where militants have been attacking Egyptian military outposts.
08:40 GMT:
08:20 GMT: Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on Egypt’s various political factions to act in their country’s national interests and prevent further escalation of violence in the country.
“We are convinced that the democratic renovation and thorough reform in the interest of all Egyptians is only possible through an encompassing dialogue, a renewal of a political process based on national reconciliation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said.
The ministry also warned Russian tourists visiting Egypt to refrain from visiting Cairo and other large cities.
07:35 GMT: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the UN Security Council to convene quickly and take action over the Egyptian crisis.
"Those who remain silent in the face of this massacre are as guilty as those who carried it out," Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara.
07:30 GMT: Wednesday’s violence across Egypt left at least 343 people dead and almost 3,000 injured, the country’s Health Ministry said. The majority of victims were killed by gunshots or suffocated in concentrated tear gas clouds, the ministry said.
2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the previous day (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Khaled)
05:40 GMT: Traffic restarted through Cairo districts where the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins were previously located. The movement apparently remains defiant in the face of a continued crackdown by security forces, with spokesman Gehad El-Haddad pledging on his Twitter account “to bring down the military coup" through peaceful action.
00:46 GMT: Amnesty International is working on the ground in Egypt to authenticate any abuses that have been carried out as authorities cleared pro-Morsi sit-ins on Wednesday. The organization also urged all sides to avoid further bloodshed.
“Promises by the authorities to use lethal methods only as a last resort to disperse protesters appear to have been broken. All too often in the past the Egyptian security forces have used excessive force against demonstrators with catastrophic consequences,” said Philip Luther, Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
The “immediate priority” for the security forces, Amnesty says, is to avoid further loss of life.
In response to reports of restricted access to the main hospital near the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in, the organization called on authorities to provide a safety corridor.
“As an immediate step, any injured protesters must be granted unimpeded access to medical treatment. The authorities must also ensure safe exit for anyone wishing to leave the sit-in,” said Philip Luther.
00:32 GMT: Egypt's health ministry has raised the civilian death toll to 238 with more than 2,000 injured in clashes across the country. Muslim Brotherhood meanwhile claims that at least 2,600 people have been killed and over 10,000 injured during the crackdown.
GMT 00:17: Western diplomats were warning the Egyptian military not to use force against the Muslim Brotherhood right up until it happened, Reuters reports, citing western and Egyptian sources. Despite this, the hardline position prevailed.
"We had a political plan that was on the table, that had been accepted by [the Muslim Brotherhood]," said EU envoy Bernardino Leon, who was involved in an attempt to mediate a solution to the crisis. "They could have taken this option. So all that has happened today was unnecessary."
The generals chose to face down international criticism over the crackdown, including diplomatic condemnation and the prospect of losing international aid for the country’s cash-strapped economy, an Egyptian source said. The generals were pressured by public opinion into taking action, after critical comments from visiting US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham last week and leaked reports of a possible deal between the authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood.
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