Egypt Brotherhood Torches Building as Death Toll Rises
Hundreds of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi torched government headquarters in Giza, as the death toll rose above 500 after a crackdown on Islamists calling for his reinstatement.
Brotherhood members attacked the building in Giza after hurling Molotov cocktails and firing gunshots, governorate spokesman Amin Abdel-Moneam said by phone. Televised footage showed flames and smoke billowing from the site, and local media said police repelled the assailants.
Mursi supporters also clashed with opponents in Alexandria, and set fire to a city council building in Sinai, according to officials. Earlier, Hamza Zawba, spokesman for the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, described yesterday’s raids on sit-ins in Cairo and Giza as “a massacre” and said, “we have no option but to continue to demonstrate.”
The army-backed government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew as violence spread across the country after police stormed the camps where the Brotherhood was leading protests against Mursi’s overthrow. The death toll rose to at least 525, with more than 3,717 hurt, Health Ministry spokesman Mohamed Fathallah said by phone today. The Brotherhood said the figure was many times higher.
The worst violence since Egypt’s 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak deepened the conflict between the country’s two main groups, led by the army and the Brotherhood. The attack on the Islamists came after failed efforts to mediate a weeks-long standoff by diplomats from the U.S. and European Union, which both condemned the killings.
Obama Condemnation
President Barack Obama said today that the U.S., which provides Egypt’s army with more than $1 billion a year under a decades-old alliance, will cancel joint military exercises scheduled next month, and consider further unspecified measures.
Obama condemned the violence against civilians, saying the military-backed government has taken a “dangerous path,” and called for the state of emergency to be lifted. He also criticized Mursi’s administration for not being “inclusive.”
Scores of people had already been killed, mostly by security forces, since Mursi’s overthrow by the army on July 3 after mass rallies against him. Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei resigned as vice president amid the crackdown yesterday, saying he didn’t want to bear responsibility for “bloodshed that could have been avoided.”
‘Few Moderates’
“There are very few moderates left” in Egypt, Ian Bremmer, founder of Eurasia Group, said in an interview today on Bloomberg Surveillance. “What had been one of the most important moderating countries for stability in the Middle East is now in free fall.”
Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi and Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim defended the crackdown in televised addresses, saying all other options to save Egypt had been exhausted. “It was necessary to take a firm stand,” El-Beblawi said. “When things spiral out of control, that’s unacceptable.” He said arms had been found at the camps.
Egypt’s 2020 Eurobonds extended losses, pushing the yield up 19 basis points to 8.97 percent at 4:30 p.m. in Cairo. The stock exchange and banks were closed today, for the first time other than on public holidays since the January 2011 uprising. The benchmark stock index fell 1.7 percent yesterday, the most worldwide.
‘Nobody Knew’
Cairo’s streets were mostly empty today. Bulldozers were razing barricades at Rabaa square, opening some side streets to traffic as army officers looked on. The windows of the local mosque, which served as a makeshift field hospital until it was cleared by police, were charred and bloodied sheets were scattered outside.
“Fire was coming from all directions, nobody knew what was happening,” said Wael Mohamed, 37, at the mosque, where he took shelter yesterday. At another mosque nearby where the wounded and dead were taken after Rabaa was raided, a list of the names of at least 245 victims was hanging outside.
The Brotherhood and its allies have vowed to maintain demonstrations until Mursi is restored to office. Authorities won’t allow any new sit-ins, the interior minister said. The curfew in Cairo, Alexandria, Giza and about 10 other provinces will resume at 7 p.m. and will be renewed every night while the state of emergency lasts.
To contact the reporters on this story: Salma El Wardany in Johannesburg at selwardany@bloomberg.net; Mariam Fam in Cairo at mfam1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
Egypt Brotherhood Calls for Rallies as Hundreds Die in Crackdown
Mahmoud Khaled/AFP via Getty Images
Egyptians mourn at a mosque in Cairo on August 15, 2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the previous day.
Egyptians mourn at a mosque in Cairo on August 15, 2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the previous day. Photographer: Mahmoud Khaled/AFP via Getty Images
Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Naguib Sawiris discusses the clashes between Egyptian police forces and Muslim Brotherhood protesters which left hundreds dead. He speaks from Egypt with Francine Lacqua and Guy Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse." (Source: Bloomberg)
Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama speaks about the unrest in Egypt and the decision to cancel a scheduled joint military exercise between the U.S. and Egypt. Obama speaks from his family's vacation rental home in Chilmark, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard. (Source: Bloomberg)
Hundreds Killed in Egypt Violence Fracturing Civilian Government
Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images
Protestors hold posters of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Mursi during a demonstration condemning the deadly crackdown in Cairo, on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul on Aug. 14, 2013.
Protestors hold posters of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Mursi during a demonstration condemning the deadly crackdown in Cairo, on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul on Aug. 14, 2013. Photographer: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images
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