Turmoil in Egypt 2013

Egypt 07/2013: Military contineuly killing Muslim Brotherhood followers even it was Ramadan month. Egypt’s new military rulers were last night accused of being behind the worst bloodshed since Hosni Mubarak was ousted in January 2011, as security forces and armed men killed scores of Muslim Brotherhood supporters.

The Muslim Brotherhood said that 66 people were killed and another 61 were “brain dead” on life support machines, after a violent repression of a protest by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. The health ministry put the toll from the night's violence at 72.

“They were not shooting to wound, they were shooting to kill,” said Gehad El-Haddad, Brotherhood spokesman. “The bullet wounds are in the head and chest.”

“There were snipers on the rooftops, I could hear the bullets whizzing past me,” said Ahmed el Nashar, 34, a media consultant for the Muslim Brotherhood, choking back his tears. “Man, people were just dropping.”

Mahmoud Ibrahim, a member of the brotherhood involved in the protests, said: “They kill us and then accuse of being terrorists.”

Mr Morsi was removed by the Egypt military ruler although he was Egypt’s first democratically elected president under legal system. After the Egypt military ousted Morsi on July 3, it was turn now to be deadliest outbreak of violence turmoil in Egypt.

"We urge the United Nations, the international human community ... to come down and rescue the hundreds of thousands from the massacre by the live ammunition in the hands of the criminals," senior Brotherhood leader Mohammed el-Beltagi shouted from the stage at the larger of the two Cairo sit-ins.

"We want intervention by the international organizations ... to rescue the people. We urge the Egyptian people to come to our rescue. ... The people are slaughtered like sheep",'' declared el-Beltagi, who has an arrest warrant issued against him for inciting violence.

Mohammed Badie, the Brotherhood's supreme leader, launched a stinging attack on el-Sissi over the latest violence, saying the military chief was leading a "bloody regime" and urging his followers to stand fast.

Egyptian Army Shoots At Protesters

Sky News obtains eyewitness accounts and a video of a violent clash between pro-Morsi protesters and the Egyptian military.

Competing versions of what happened when 51 people were killed close to the gates of the Republican Guard officers club in Cairo have emerged from video evidence.

There is unanimity, though, that whoever started the violence the massacre marks a bloody moment in history which will scar Egypt's future.

Sky News obtained eyewitness accounts and a video shot from an apartment overlooking the street which runs across the front of the Guard's club.

It clearly shows pre-dawn preparations by interior ministry and army soldiers for an operation to clear the street where supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi were encamped.

The force arrived with fire engines and ambulances - clearly aware that what they were about to embark upon was likely to turn violent.

Sky News has interviewed the authors of the video and confirmed its authenticity.

It shows protesters confronting the forces who respond immediately with tear gas and volley upon volley of clearly audible automatic rifle fire.

Demonstrators had been camped on the central reservation of the four-lane road since the military coup which deposed Mr Morsi last Wednesday.
Grab from Muslim Brotherhood video of pro-Morsi protest in Cairo The witness video shows the army firing tear gas at pro-Morsi protesters

They had been sleeping in white tents - some had their families with them and had vowed to stay here until Mr Morsi was returned to office.

The military said there was an attempt by the pro-Morsi groups to break through its barbed wire and piling defences of the officers club where Mr Morsi was held during the coup.

It says its soldiers were forced to open fire to defend themselves and that two officers were killed and a number of other troops injured.

Its own video of the events appears to be authentic - they were filmed on the same location as the protesters died.

The armed forces cameramen caught one man firing a pistol at the army, another loading a shotgun and a third firing a weapon from behind shrubbery.

The army videos show wounded soldiers being carried to safety.

They do not prove the armed forces point that they fought to protect the entrance of the officers club - but rather that demonstrators used firearms when they had been pushed some 400 metres back from the gates.

In the film obtained by Sky News from a witness who wanted to remain anonymous, the security forces approached from outside the demonstration, not from the club's interior.

Hundreds of rounds were fired - in the semi-darkness the only muzzle flashes came from the military's lines.

Soldiers and riot police are visible standing by a dead or wounded demonstrator.

Another can be seen being arrested and beaten.

"I know what I saw. There was no attack by the demonstrators on the gates. That was an area where they were singing and dancing. The military attacked the demonstrators. I saw two drop to the ground I don't know if they were dead or not," the witness said.

The witness added they were not a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main group behind the demonstrations and had been annoyed at the noise and mess the protesters had made.

The military cleared the road and drove the demonstrators away from the club as dozens of soldiers assembled on foot and in armoured vehicles.