Egypt on the verge of secterian civil war, clashes between the army and the Islamists 136 dead.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

At least 120 Morsi supporters reported killed in Egypt clashes

 

Turmoil deepens as security forces shoot scores of Muslim Brotherhood supporters at sit-in in east Cairo

 

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 27 July 2013 17.29 BST

 

Link to video: Egypt: '100 Muslim Brotherhood members killed' in Cairo

 

At least 120 supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, have been shot dead by security officials in what is the worst state-led massacre in the country since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, according to figures released by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. Earlier reports on Saturday said the death toll had exceeded 136.

 

The Egyptian health ministry said that it had counted 38 dead – though its figures are only based on bodies delivered to state institutions.

 

The massacre took place in the small hours of Saturday morning, at a sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya, east Cairo, where tens of thousands of pro-Morsi supporters have camped since Morsi was deposed on 3 July.

 

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the shooting started shortly before pre-dawn morning prayers on the fringes of a round-the-clock vigil being staged by backers of Morsi, who was toppled by the army more than three weeks ago.

 

"They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," Haddad said, adding that the death toll might be much higher.

 

Al Jazeera's Egypt television station reported that 120 had been killed and some 4,500 injured in the early morning violence near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawia mosque.

 

Reporters at the scene said firing could still be heard hours after the troubles started.

 

"I have been trying to make the youth withdraw for five hours. I can't. They are saying they have paid with their blood and they do not want to retreat," said Saad el-Hosseini, a senior Brotherhood politician.

 

"It is a first attempt to clear Rabaa al-Adawia," he said.

An injured supporter of Mohamed Morsi is treated at a field hospital. An injured man is treated at a field hospital. Photograph: Ahmed Khaled/EPA

 

There was no immediate comment from state authorities on what had happened.

 

The clashes started after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Morsi supporters who tried to extend the sit-in in eastern Cairo.

 

Al Jazeera showed medics desperately trying to revive casualties arriving at a field hospital set up near the mosque.

 

El-Haddad said police started firing repeated rounds of tear-gas at protesters on a road close to the mosque sometime after 3am local time (2am BST). Shortly afterwards, live rounds started flying, hitting people at close range.

 

The deaths come just two weeks after military and police officers massacred 51 Morsi supporters at a nearby protest in east Cairo.

 

They also happened less than 24 hours after hundreds of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters gathered in Egyptian streets to give General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the army chief who ousted Morsi, their assent to crackdown on what he had on Wednesday called "terrorism".

 

Sceptics say this is a euphemism for a violent campaign on largely peaceful Morsi supporters, who have held sit-ins and marches across several Egyptian cities since Morsi was overthrown – including at Rabaa al-Adawiya. For weeks, most Egyptian media have depicted pro-Morsi supporters as terrorists.

 

"It doesn't make sense for a defence minister to ask people to give him authority to fight terrorism," said Abdallah Hatem, a 19-year-old student from Cairo, on Friday.

 

"So his speech was a pretext for something else – a pretext to fight peaceful protesters who want Morsi to come back."

[Gar_maqaate]

Egypt will not have a civil war. It would be a virtually suicide for the Muslim Brotherhood if they got engaged in a violent struggle with the military. Firstly they will be outlawed, effectively ending their political ambitions forever. Secondly, they will be slaughter by the thousands and they will forever be persecuted, oppressed and incarcerated. Although the Brotherhood has the morally upper hand, thus far in the strugle, they have been political and militarily outmaneuvered and left hanging off a cliff. If the Brotherhood compromises and joins the " political process" they are effectively finish as a political force because they will lose their grass-root support, making them just another pawn in a fixed political system. The only viable option and the best political strategy them would be to engage in a non-violent struggle. However, I doubt they have the vision or patience to adopt a non violent political resistances.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

The brotherhood is gone for good i think they got the chance to lead they screwed up big time, and started alienating other communities. They can create disharmony by fighting but they cannot defeat the army , maybe they will continue to protests and protest.Which will never allow a smooth transition. Lets see what happens in the next coming weeks.

[Gar_maqaate]

The brotherhood did not create "disharmony" in the community because there was no harmony to begin with. The muslim brotherhood made a monumental mistake when they decided to field a presidential candidate in the election because the circumstances were such that who ever won that the election would have failed regardless. They should have just concentrated on winning parliamentary majority and to developing their capabilities for future government. Instead they decide to dive in the deep end and now they are about drown. They made a mistake in creating an alliance with the so called , secular and Egyptian liberals in the begin of the revolution because those people hate the Islamists more than they love freedom.