Egypt clashes: at least 130 Mohamed Morsi supporters killed in Cairo – live

[cali]

Turmoil that has convulsed Egypt for weeks deepens as security forces shoot dead more than 130 Muslim Brotherhood supporters before pre-dawn prayers near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawia mosque

<snip>

Patrick Kingsley reports that the Muslim Brotherhood now estimates that 120 of its supporters were killed. He has seen officials collecting the identity cards of the dead and they have told him that not all the dead were carrying identity cards.

Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said only 21 people had died and denied police opened fire.

It is difficult to get accurate figures because many of the dead and injured are not taken to hospital. It is not uncommon for the dead to be buried almost immediately after death. Mourning then continues for three days after the burial.

3.23pm BST

A campaign has been launched to petition President Obama to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. It is not clear who has launched the campaign and the preamble is very vague in linking the Muslim Brotherhood to any particular acts of terrorism.

The petition needs 100,000 votes before the administration looks at it and issues a response. At the moment it needs another 90,000. Here's the petition.

2.24pm BST

Mosa'ab Elshamy has posted photos of the situation at Rabaa al-Adaweya field hospital on his Flickr account, including images of rows of shrouded bodies of the casualties from Saturday's clashes. Some readers may find the images disturbing.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/jul/27/egypt-clashes-morsi-supporters-live

[cali]

1. WaPo editorial:

TWENTY-THREE days after a military coup, carried out in the name of preserving democracy in Egypt, thousands of people filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday in a highly orchestrated demonstration proclaiming “the love of the people” for Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, the beribboned, sunglass-bedecked general who this week demanded a popular “mandate” to fight “potential violence and terrorism.” Military helicopters and tanks guarded the crowd while state-run media campaigned against the Muslim Brotherhood — whose ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, was charged by prosecutors Friday with murder and espionage.

To judge from these events, Egypt is not moving toward a restart on democracy, a narrative embraced by the Obama administration. Instead the military is setting the stage for a crackdown on the party that won the country’s first democratic elections, as well as the elevation of a new military hero in the fashion of former dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser.

A genuine transition to democracy would require military authorities and the civilian cabinet they installed to open negotiations with Mr. Morsi and the Brotherhood movement on a political settlement. Instead the generals appear to have chosen to tar the Brotherhood as terrorist — a tactic that is as provocative as it is unjustified.

Mr. Morsi’s government mismanaged the country and sought to concentrate power; since its removal, its leaders have adopted an intransigent stance, insisting on the restoration of the government and organizing mass sit-ins and marches. Yet while there have been reports of isolated shots fired by Islamist militants in demonstrations, there is no evidence that the Brotherhood has adopted violence as a strategy, much less terrorism — which it forswore decades ago. The majority of the some 200 people killed since the coup have been shot by soldiers or pro-government snipers.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/egypts-military-should-hear-from-obama-administration/2013/07/26/aafdeb9a-f60a-11e2-aa2e-4088616498b4_story.html

[dipsydoodle]

2. Fuck the petition - it is a coup.

Thanks for posting.

[cali]

3. yep. lots of denial of that, but it sure as shit was a coup.

[cali]

4. updated

The numbers are still being counted after security forces opened fire early this morning on a Muslim Brotherhood protest. Early reports suggest that at least 136 people have been killed and thousands injured. The killings follow another incident in Alexandria on Friday in which five Muslim Brotherhood supporters were killed.

The Muslim Brotherhood protest were triggered by a statement by the army that Mohamed Morsi, the deposed president, was under investigation for colluding with the Palestinian off-shoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and killing policemen. The protests, hospital treatment and funerals are due to continue all day and Patrick Kingsley is reporting live from Cairo.

al-sissi is looking every bit as brutal as Mubarek.