Deadly clashes erupt in Egypt provinces.

[another_liberal]

Source: Al Jazeera

Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, angry over a security crackdown on sit-ins in Cairo, have clashed with security forces in several provinces besides the capital. Protests and clashes were reported in Ismailia, Alexandria, Suez, Assiyut and numerous other places on Wednesday. The violence raged on even after the cabinet declared curfew in a number of provinces: Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiyut, Sohag, Behairah, North Sinai, South Sinai, Suez and Ismailia.

The official Middle East News Agency said the curfew would be enforced simultaneously with the month-long state of emergency, from 7pm till 6am, pending further notification. The Health Ministry said 149 people were killed as a result of Wednesday's violence and another 1,403 people were injured as police stations, government buildings and Coptic Christian churches came under attack or were set ablaze by protesters. Reuters news agency reported quoting medical sources that 15 people were killed in Ismailia in clashes between Morsi supporters and the police. The Health Ministry said 35 people were killed in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, in clashes with security forces, while another five people were killed in Suez after protesters tried to storm a provincial government office.

Ministry said several police cars were burned in Beni Suef, a province south of Cairo, and that protesters also set fire to the courthouse. Police fired tear gas in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya in clashes with protesters outside of a mosque. In Aswan, in southern Egypt, hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators attacked the local government offices, throwing stones and attempting to break in, according to local media. Local media reported that the main Coptic Christian church in Sohag, in southern Egypt, was burned, and a church in Minya was also set on fire.There has been a great deal of sectarian rhetoric directed at Copts in recent weeks during pro-Morsi protests, leading to several incidents of churches burned and Christian-owned businesses attacked. The Health Ministry said at least 10 people were killed in violence in Alexandria. Hundreds of angry Morsi supporters marched through Egypt's second city, rioting and armed with wooden clubs, an AFP reporter said. Chanting "Morsi is my president", the protesters set fire to car tyres and tore down pictures of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who was behind the Morsi's July 3 overthrow. At one cafe where Sisi's picture was hanging, they smashed the doors and beat up the patrons as they shouted "Sisi is a killer".

In the Ibrahimiya district, they stormed a police station and looted furniture and equipment inside, an AFP reporter said. Earlier, in another part of Alexandria, tear-gas canisters rained down on a pro-Morsi march in the Sharq neighbourhood, amid repeated bursts of automatic gunfire. Hundreds of Morsi loyalists had marched through the city when police fired tear gas to disperse them. Residents, armed with clubs, came out of their homes and shops to help the police, detaining Morsi supporters and handing them over to officers at Sharq police station. Morsi supporters, carrying Egyptian flags and pictures of the deposed leader, then clashed with his opponents on a road carpeted with rocks.

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/08/20138147553170355.html

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I doubt if this is what the generals and their wealthy backers wanted or expected. Now they can try to suppress a nation-wide backlash against their Jackboot tactics. Let's hope they soon face justice for what they have done and what they have caused to happen.

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. The generals have sown the seeds for years, if not decades, of trouble.

The Muslim Brotherhood will not forget this. Ever.

[another_liberal]

2. How many . . .

I wonder how many of their fellow Egyptians the generals' soldiers are willing to murder for them? Maybe not as many as the heartless bastards hope.

[warrant46]

11. I have seen this before It will also end poorly (Photo of Dead Diem)

President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu are murdered during a coup by dissident generals of the South Vietnamese army.

In the early afternoon hours of November 1, the dissidents seized key military installations and communications systems in Saigon, secured the surrender of Nhu's Special Forces, and demanded the resignation of Diem and Nhu.

President Kennedy, who was aware that the generals were planning a coup and had sent word that the United States would not interfere.

The Ngô brothers soon agreed to surrender and were promised safe exile; after being arrested, they were instead executed in the back of an armoured personnel carrier by ARVN officers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_and_assassination_of_Ngo_Dinh_Diem

[RobertEarl]

3. Violent people over there

When Mubarak was kicked out there did not seem to be as much violence. ??

And what violence there was was directed at the people wanting Mubarak kicked.

So what is with these people now? Is it mainly religious aggravation? And are the peaceful folks the ones who made Mubarak leave, and then Morsi?

[David__77]

4. I support the Egyptian people in their fight against terror and religious extremism.

The army is, for the most part, standing on the side of justice. No tears at all for Islamic extremism and its barbarism.

[RiverNoord]

13. WTF?

Government by representation means that the electorate must live with the decisions it makes when it puts people into office. Would people on this site have supported a military coup against GWB and the Cheney gang, on the basis that their military policies were too extreme? Not even though Bush was barely elected/not elected/whatever for the first term.

I would sure like to know what specific 'barbarism' had been perpetrated by Morsi during the portion of his term he actually served. There were steps taken toward a less secular government, for sure, and he did make some foolish decisions that rubbed certain people the wrong way, but there was certainly no barbarism involved.

The moment the military deposed Morsi Egypt took a great step backwards. He was the legitimately elected president of the country during a period of transition from military to civilian rule. Now it's back to military rule and the 'barbarism' has nothing to do with any religion - it's the 'secular' military making it very clear that it's in charge, by killing an awful lot of people.

Oh - and I'm an atheist, so I'm definitely not biased in favor of any religious persuasion.

[another_liberal]

20. Do you also support the Egyptian peoples' struggle against Fascism?

Because Fascism is what we now see the army "standing on the side of."

[riderinthestorm]

5. The Army gets what it wanted - a state of emergency like under Mubarak

And an internal enemy - the Muslim Brotherhood - the historical bogeyman.

From the Army's perspective, they've restored the status quo and are probably satisfied with the outcome.

Disgusting, I know but the Army had plenty of other options to take with the protestors. They chose the most violent. That must have been planned. They knew what would follow.




I weep for the dead and injured.

[oberliner]

6. Rough times for Christians in Egypt

Nothing particularly new there, but it's sad to seem them caught up in this as well - they are such a tiny oppressed minority there to begin with.

[Earth_First]

7. Oh the poor, poor Christians...

Oppressed and downtrodden are the meek and mild.

Please.

[oberliner]

8. Last week, a 10-year-old Christian girl was shot dead on the way home from church.

Here's a BBC video about the incident:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23683035

[Earth_First]

9. The article you link also states that Muslims are being targeted as well...

Its an extemely violent situation in Egypt in which fundamentalists are targeting several groups.

But to specifically state that only Christians are being targeted, indicates an agenda that I'd otherwise not discuss.

[oberliner]

10. The OP talked about attacks on Coptic Christian churches

That's what made me express concern for that particular minority community in the context of this thread.

[David__77]

12. Actually, Christians ARE specifically being targeted.

Sure, Shiites are too. Anyone that the salafist mobs deem to be unbelievers. But Christians are being specifically targeted and there's nothing wrong in pointing it out. It's shameful that US foreign policy ignores their plight for the most part.

[RiverNoord]

14. Why is it 'shameful'

that US foreign policy does not, in your view, take special exception to violence directed at a particular religious minority, when another religious minority is, in your view, also experiencing the same violence? I don't see the United States speaking of the plight of the Egyptian Shia minority population - why, exactly, should it, (how, I have no idea) behave toward the Coptic minority population differently?

[David__77]

15. They should also have concern for the Shiites.

I'm not advocating that the US should having anything other than normal diplomatic relations with Egypt and other countries. I'm speaking here about efforts to reason, not coerce. And, no, I don't think Christians should be defended simply for being Christians. They should be defended as members of a repressed sect in Egypt. I feel the same way about the Alawites in Syria or Muslims in Burma.

[another_liberal]

21. They were used by the Egyptian army . . .

They were used by the Egyptian army to help overthrow President Morsi, now they are being blamed for all of the army's crimes.

[dipsydoodle]

16. Death toll in Egypt violence rises to 327

CAIRO (AP) -- The Egyptian Health Ministry says the death toll in clashes between police and supporters of the country's ousted president has risen to 327.

A statement from the ministry on Thursday also raised the number of injured in the previous day's violence to 2,926.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_EGYPT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-08-15-04-27-15

[Locut0s]

17. As I posted in GD I hope Egypt doesn't become another Lebanon...

What's happening there is horrible and not something I ever expected to see years ago. At least not Egypt of all the countries in the middle east.

[another_liberal]

18. Things are very ugly in Egypt.

There is video of whole Cairo streets on fire. It looks like a war zone.

[Locut0s]

19. :( I fear we are going to have to rewrite...

I fear we are going to have to rewrite our whole view of Egypt in the coming months / years. I know Egypt was rife with issues before this but it was certainly one of the shinning jewels of success in the middle east as well. A thriving tourist mecca, business and financial hub, and much much more. To see such a place descend into a war zone as you aptly put it is more than sad :'(

[dipsydoodle]

22. With regard to tourism they've screwed themselves.

UK here : https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt and doubtless the same in all countries too.

[another_liberal]

23. That is going to hurt.

I guess the Saudi and Kuwaiti royal families will have to come up with a lot more cash for the generals. Egypt is going to face a major shortfall in revenues.