The riots currently ongoing in Egypt started with protests against the ouster of President Morsi. His supporters held rallies and sit-ins to protest the coup by the Egyptian military. The Egyptian military predictably cracked down on on the protesters and the protesters fought back. Now, hundreds of people have died in the riots in Egypt over the past few days.
The western countries, led by the United States have condemned the violence. The U. S. has cancelled a military exercise. President Obama briefly paused his Matha's Vineyard vacation to condemn the bloodshed. Several countries have given their Egyptian ambassador a stern talking-to. Denmark cancelled its financial aid to Egypt. Also, regionally, there has been condemnation. Turkey has recalled its ambassador. The U. N. Security council met. They urged restraint on both sides.
Meanwhile, the bodies stack up as anger continues to mount. And for no logical reason, violence against Christians has been particularly harsh.
Egypt Death Toll Soars as Obama Leads Muted International Condemnation
Egyptian security forces clashed with
supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood for a second day on Thursday as
muted international condemnation led by Barack Obama failed to quell
violence now said to have killed at least 638 people and wounded many
thousands more.
The death toll from the ongoing
crackdown is likely to be far higher, with many bodies remaining
unaccounted for in mosques near the scene of the two major assaults
on Brotherhood sit-ins on Wednesday.
The violence achieved its aim of
clearing both protest sites but led to widespread rage and revenge
attacks by supporters of the Brotherhood who torched a number of
government buildings.
In the early hours of Friday the
Brotherhood called for a nationwide "millions' march of anger"
after noon prayers, Reuters reported.
"Despite the pain and sorrow over
the loss of our martyrs, the latest coup makers' crime has increased
our determination to end them," the Islamist group said in a
statement.
Responding to the army's brutal
crackdown on protesters, Obama announced the cancellation of joint US
military exercises with Egypt in a carefully calibrated rebuke that
stopped short of a more significant suspension of aid.
The US president interrupted his family
vacation on Martha's Vineyard to condemn the bloodshed, but stressed
that any move toward peaceful democracy was a difficult process that
could take decades.
"We appreciate the complexity of
the situation," he said. "We recognise that change takes
time. There are going to be false starts and difficult days. We know
that democratic transitions are measured not in months or even years,
but sometimes in generations."
Egypt's presidency said early on Friday
Obama's remarks were not based on "facts" and would
strengthen and encourage violent groups, Reuters reported.
His statement disappointed many in the
diplomatic community who had hoped for a suspension, or even
cancellation of $1.3bn in annual US military aid to Egypt, but the
administration is anxious to retain this link for future leverage
over the generals.
"If I'm an Egyptian general, I
take notice and think President Obama is trying to take the least
painful step to demonstrate to various constituencies in the US that
he means what he says about democracy in Egypt," said Amy
Hawthorne, who until recently was an Egypt policy official at the
State Department. "But only the least painful step, so we won't
take him that seriously."
The White House's limited intervention
came as clashes took place for a second day in the capital Cairo,
where an angry crowd stormed a security building in Giza and sporadic
fighting was reported in at least four other parts of the country,
including central Egypt where at least one police station and several
churches were torched.
In Beni Suef, a southern city, locals
said demonstrators attacked the security headquarters and a Coptic
school. In Ismaïlia, a city near the Suez Canal, protesters backing
the ousted president Mohamed Morsi attempted to attack a police
station with a car, while Brotherhood members held a protest after
the start of the evening curfew.
Overall, though, violence was markedly
lower than on Wednesday – a day that appeared to be worse than the
fears of some politicians and even Brotherhood backers, who had been
bracing for an imminent attack on their hubs in north-eastern and
western Cairo.
