Amnesty accuses authorities of turning blind eye to violence

The Egyptian authorities are not doing enough to protect protesters from violence, Amnesty International claims, hinting that this “suspicious failure” to save lives might be politically motivated. The group says its researchers on the ground in Cairo have gathered evidence that shows that security forces have not been intervening or were dispatched too late to stop violence during the recent clashes.

“The security forces should have been more than ready to prevent and stop the kinds of deadly clashes that we’ve seen in the past three days,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. “It is difficult to imagine that they could not have predicted the violence. This suspicious failure to prevent loss of life is a callous failure of their duty to protect lives and uphold human rights. Our evidence raises questions as to whether the failure to protect all protesters, regardless of their political affiliation, is the result of a deliberate policy by the security apparatus.” (Raphael Ahren)