Egypt awakes from curfew as official death toll increases

Cairo and 14 other provinces in Egypt awoke from a curfew Thursday following the bloodiest day since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi by the country’s military. 

Egypt’s Health Ministry said Thursday morning that 327 people were killed in violence on Wednesday throughout the country, while 2,930 were wounded.

The casualties were mostly in Cairo where police in riot gear bulldozed two protest camps that had been the flashpoint of growing unrest. The state news agency MENA quoted a spokesman saying over 1,400 people were wounded, according to Reuters. Sky News cameraman Mick Deane and Gulf News reporter Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz were among the dead, which included 43 policemen.

The violence prompted Mansour to declare a month-long state of emergency and impose a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew on Cairo, Alexandria, and 12 other provinces, ordering the armed forces to support the police in efforts to restore law and order and protect state facilities. 

Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a televised address to the nation that it was a “difficult day” and that he regretted the bloodshed but offered no apologies for moving against the protesters, saying they were given ample warnings to leave and he had tried foreign mediation efforts. El-Beblawi added that the government could not indefinitely tolerate a challenge to authority that the 6-week-old protests represented. 

“We want to see a civilian state in Egypt, not a military state and not a religious state,” he said.

Despite the curfew, sporadic clashes continued in Cairo through the evening.

In the city of Assiut, south of Cairo, a police station was hit by two mortar shells Wednesday night fired by suspected Morsi supporters, according to officers there who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. 

As the fighting intensified Wednesday, Mohamed ElBaradei, abruptly resigned as Egypt’s interim vice president. In a letter sent to Interim President Adly Mansour, ElBaradei cited “decisions I do not agree with” regarding the government’s crackdown. 

“It has become difficult for me to continue bearing responsibility for decisions that I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear,” ElBaradei wrote. “I cannot bear the responsibility for one drop of blood.”

The National Salvation Front, the main opposition grouping that he headed during Morsi’s year in office, said it regretted his departure and complained that it was not consulted beforehand. Tamarod, the youth group behind the mass anti-Morsi protests that preceded the coup, said El-Baradei was dodging his responsibility at a time when his services were needed.

Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, the powerful head of Al-Azhar mosque, Sunni Islam’s main seat of learning, also sought to distance himself from the violence. He said in a statement he had no prior knowledge of the action.

On Thursday, Reuters reported that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called for the United Nations Security Council to convene quickly to discuss the crisis. 

Speaking at a press conference in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, Erdogan said “Those who remain silent in the face of this massacre are as guilty as those who carried it out.” 

On Wednesday, the White House and several European leaders criticized the crackdown. 

White House spokesman Josh Earnest, speaking at Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where President Obama is vacationing, said the world is watching what is happening in Egypt and it is “time for them to get back on a path of respecting the basic rights of their people.” 

Secretary of State John Kerry says the violence in Egypt is deplorable and is a serious blow to reconciliation efforts. He says it runs counter to Egyptians’ aspirations for peace. 

kerry says Egypt’s interim leaders must take a step back and calm the situation to avoid further deaths. He also says the U.S. strongly opposes a return to a state of emergency law and that should end as soon as possible. 

Kerry says he spoke with Egypt’s foreign minister and believes the path to a resolution is still open. 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all Egyptians to focus on reconciliation, while European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said dialogue should be encouraged through “peaceful protest, protecting all citizens and enabling full political participation.” 

Army troops did not take part in the two Cairo operations, but provided security. Police and army helicopters hovered over both sites as plumes of smoke rose over the city skyline hours after the police launched the simultaneous actions shortly after 7 a.m. local time.

H.SH