The clashes in Egypt between the military and supporters of the deposed president, Mohammed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood has forced the Vice-President, Mohamed El-Baradei to resign as the death toll reaches 149 persons.
The Egypt’s health ministry said 149 people were killed, both in Cairo and in clashes that broke out elsewhere in the country and at least 1,400 were wounded, state TV reported.
However, the Muslim Brotherhood claim that the death toll is far higher in what it described as a ‘massacre’.
El-Baradei is a former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations body charged with ensuring peaceful use of atomic and nuclear energy, and is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy made it the country’s bloodiest single day since the 2011 revolution that ousted the previous president, longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak.
“It’s an open war,” said one protester who managed to escape one of the two protest camps.
The Muslim Brotherhood said earlier that 200 Morsy supporters were killed and more than 8,000 were injured. But the party has given exaggerated figures in the past, only to revise them later.
“I think what we’re seeing right now is just the beginning of what is promising to be a very, very long and bloody battle as the interim government and the security forces try to regain control of the streets,” CNN’s Arwa Damon reported from Cairo.
Egypt declared a monthlong state of emergency beginning at 4 p.m., according to state television. A curfew was also established in several cities including Cairo, from 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday to 6 a.m. on Thursday (today) and all violators will be jailed, state news reported.
United States Secretary of State, John Kerry said the events in Egypt “are deplorable and they run counter to Egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion and genuine democracy.”
The United States strongly opposes a return to state-of-emergency law in Egypt, and urges the Egyptian government “to respect basic human rights,” Kerry said.
“The world is closely watching Egypt,” and is “deeply concerned,” he told reporters at the State Department.
For six chaotic weeks, Morsy supporters had amassed at two camps, refusing to budge until their leader who had been democratically elected, then ousted in a coup was reinstated.
They lived and slept in tents. Vendors offered everything from haircuts to masks. Children played in inflatable castles and splashed in kiddie pools.
The government has accused the protesters of packing the sites with their children to use them as human shields.
Wednesday’s raids came as no surprise as the government had made clear it wanted to clear out the camps.
The raids began around dawn. Security forces stormed the two massive makeshift camps, bulldozing tents and escorting away hundreds of protesters.
Mothers and fathers whisked away children, gas masks on their faces.
Within three hours, forces had cleared the Nahda camp, near the Cairo University campus. Shreds of torn-down tents were left behind.
But the larger protest, near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in eastern Cairo, proved trickier, with forces facing heavy resistance. The military called in special forces.
Protester Hassan Al Qabana described it as a “full-on assault.”
Chaos ensued. Many protesters refused to leave, even in the face of bulldozers and surrounded by the injured and dead. “They said they’re prepared to die,” CNN’s Reza Sayah reported.
Along with smoke, bursts of rapid gunfire continued to fill the air. It was unclear who had the weapons, and who was shooting at whom. People could be heard wailing.
State TV reported that snipers from the Muslim Brotherhood Morsy’s party were exchanging gunfire with Egyptian security forces near a university building.
Meanwhile, foreign journalists have become part of the casualties with Sky News cameraman, Mick Deane killed and Reuters photojournalist, Asmaa Waguih shot and wounded.
Deane had worked for Sky for 15 years and for CNN well before that. The rest of the team was unhurt.
Waguih was shot and wounded on Wednesday covering the clashes and is being treated in a hospital.
Habiba Abdel Aziz of Gulf News, in Egypt in a personal capacity having celebrated the Eid holiday, was also killed, editor-at-large Francis Matthew told CNN.
“I have personally never seen this much bloodshed in what, according to what we’ve seen over the past six weeks, had been a peaceful demonstration,” Sayah reported.
Visiting makeshift hospitals, a CNN crew was “literally walking on the blood of the victims,” he said.
Security forces pushed doctors out of one hospital at gunpoint, a witness told CNN.
The fighting wasn’t limited to Cairo. Morsy supporters besieged various churches in Sohag, setting fire to Saint George’s Church, a tour bus and a police car, Egypt’s state-run EgyNews reported.
Interior Ministry sources told CNN that Muslim Brotherhood supporters also attacked three police stations around Egypt.
Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire who helped found the anti-Morsy Free Egyptian Party, said his party had video of Muslim Brotherhood members “shooting machine guns on civilians, on police. So anyone who wants to call this a peaceful demonstration would be wrong.”
He also insisted, “This is no war zone.”
But Ahmed Mustafa, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, told CNN from London that Sawiris was trying to misrepresent video of masked people with weapons.
The Muslim Brotherhood also said police were throwing Molotov cocktails at makeshift clinics.
The Interior Ministry said security forces did not use gunfire and instead were attacked by “terrorist elements” inside the camps.
Bloody ‘war zone’ as security forces clear Cairo square
“Egyptian security forces are committed to the utmost self-restraint in dealing with the protesters,” the ministry said.