US warns Egypt to step back as death toll nears 300

WASHINGTON — Washington delivered a stern warning to Egyptian authorities Wednesday to step back from deadly violence after a day which saw hundreds killed in clashes between security forces and protesters loyal to ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

Egypt’s interior minister said late Thursday that 43 policemen were killed in clashes with supporters of the ousted Islamist president, raising the overall death toll for Wednesday to nearly 300.

Official sources said late Wednesday that 235 protesters had been killed as Cairo and other parts of Egypt erupted in fighting following raids on two Muslim Brotherhood sit-in camps in the capital

Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police, said Morsi supporters stormed 21 police stations and damaged or torched seven churches across the nation. He said they also stormed the Finance Ministry in Cairo and occupied its ground floor.

Ibrahim told a televised news conference that the 43 policemen killed included two major-generals and two colonels.

Bullets rang out and tear gas and smoke from fires filled the sky in Cairo for much of the day as anti-coup protesters fought with police in the capital, Alexandria and elsewhere. The Muslim Brotherhood reported that over 2,200 people were killed and thousands more injured in the fighting, though the figures were unconfirmed.

The smaller camp was cleared relatively quickly, but it took hours for police to take control of the main sit-in site, which is near the Rabbah al-Adawiya Mosque that has served as the epicenter of the pro-Morsi campaign.

Several senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who were wanted by police were detained after police stormed the camp near the mosque, according to security officials and state television. Among those seized were Brotherhood leaders Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, and hard-line cleric Safwat Hegazy — all wanted by prosecutors to answer allegations of inciting violence and conspiring to kill anti-Morsi protesters.

Police dismantled the main stage near the mosque in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City, the official MENA news agency said. An AP reporter saw hundreds of protesters leaving the sit-in site carrying their personal belongings.

Egyptian Authorities issued orders to impose a curfew on Cairo and 10 other provinces and interim president Adly Mansour declared a month-long state of emergency.

The deadly violence drew condemnations from around the world, including from the United Nations, European Union, Jordan and elsewhere.

In a stern warning to Egypt’s leaders, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the escalating violence throughout the country had dealt a “serious blow” to political reconciliation efforts between the military-backed interim government and Morsi supporters.

Still, Obama administration officials signaled no change in US policy toward Egypt or clear consequences for the mounting violence. The US has avoided declaring Morsi’s ouster a coup, a move that would force the administration to suspend $1.3 billion in annual military aid to the strategically important nation, and officials said they continued to believe that step is not the America’s interests.

Kerry, during a surprise appearance at the State Department, condemned the violence and the reinstatement of emergency rule. He urged Egypt’s interim leaders to take a step back and calm the situation.

“This is a pivotal moment for all Egyptians,” Kerry said. “The path toward violence leads only to greater instability, economic disaster and suffering.”

Wednesday’s assault came after days of warnings by the interim administration that replaced Morsi after he was ousted on July 3. The two sit-in camps at two major intersections on opposite sides of the Egyptian capital began in late June to show support for Morsi. Protesters — many from Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood — have demanded his reinstatement.

Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-reform leader in the interim government, resigned in protest over the assaults as the military-backed leadership imposed a month-long state of emergency and nighttime curfew.

Kerry spoke earlier Wednesday with Egypt’s foreign minister, as well as other top officials in the Middle East. He insisted that a political solution remains a viable option in Egypt, though he conceded that path was made “much, much harder” by the recent events.

President Barack Obama, on a week-long vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., was briefed on the deteriorating situation by national security adviser Susan Rice.

White House and State Department officials said the US role was largely to encourage the interim government to fulfill its promises to enact political reform. The military-backed government has pledged to amend the Islamist-backed constitution adopted last year and holding parliamentary and presidential elections early next year.

“Figuring out how to encourage the interim government to make good on their promise to transition to a democratically elected government there is something that we’re working on,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “Hopefully it’s something they’re working on.”

“The reports of deaths and injuries are extremely worrying,” Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said. “We reiterate that violence won’t lead to any solution and we urge the Egyptian authorities to proceed with utmost restraint.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the UN Security Council and the Arab League to intervene.

“The international community, especially the UN Security Council and Arab League, must act immediately to stop this massacre,” Erdogan’s office said in a statement.

The turmoil was the latest chapter in a bitter standoff between Morsi’s supporters and the interim leadership that took over the Arab world’s most populous country. The military ousted Morsi after millions of Egyptians massed in the streets at the end of June to call for him to step down, accusing him of giving the Brotherhood undue influence and failing to implement vital reforms or bolster the ailing economy.

Morsi has been held at an undisclosed location. Other Brotherhood leaders have been charged with inciting violence or conspiring in the killing of protesters.

The pro-Morsi Anti-Coup alliance claimed that security forces used live ammunition, but the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, said its forces only used tear gas and that they came under fire from the camp.

“The world cannot sit back and watch while innocent men, women and children are being indiscriminately slaughtered. The world must stand up to the military junta’s crime before it is too late,” said a statement by the Brotherhood’s media office in London emailed to the AP in Cairo.

The Interior Ministry statement warned that forces would deal firmly with protesters who were acting “irresponsibly,” suggesting that it would respond in kind if its men are fired upon. It said it would guarantee safe passage to all who want to leave the Nasr City site but would arrest those wanted for questioning by prosecutors.

At least 250 people have died in previous clashes since the Morsi’s overthrow.