Egypt panel criticizes police for deadly sweep of pro-Morsi vigil
Reporting by: Nehal El-Sherif
05.03.2014
Cairo (dpa) – An Egyptian state-backed rights watchdog accused Wednesday the security forces of failing to sustain a proportional use of force while dispersing a protest camp for the supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi last year, leaving hundreds dead.
On August 14, police cracked down on two sit-ins held by supporters of Morsi, who was deposed by the army in July after mass protests demanding early presidential elections. The biggest camp was in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, eastern Cairo.
The panel, set up by the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), said that Morsi's supporters had initiated the fire against police forces, who in turn failed to show restraint.
"While having the right to use force if necessary in case of armed attacks against them, the security forces failed to maintain their restraint which led to disproportion in terms of intensity fire,” the council said in a report.
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| NCHR member George Ishaq addressing journalists at the press conference. (Nehal El-Sherif) |
The sit-in in Rabaa al-Adawiya, which continued for a month and half, angered local residents, who accused the Brotherhood of detaining and torturing Morsi's opponents at the camp.
Nasser Amin, an NCHR member, said that security forces also failed to give protesters enough time to leave the area, as they began the evacuation operation only 25 minutes after the first warning was given to the campers.
The government forces also failed to secure a safe exit for protesters, who wanted to leave the square, as clashes erupted between security troops and sympathizers, who came to support the protesters, Amin told reporters in a briefing.
“The Interior Ministry should have studied the possibilities of clashes erupting at the safe exit, provided alternative and secured routes to limit the loss of lives."
The panel put the death toll in the crackdown on Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in alone at 632 people, including eight policemen.
It added that the ensuing violence in 22 Egyptian provinces, which included attacks on police stations and churches, left 622 civilians and 64 policemen dead over the course of four days.
The panel also blamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood for allowing armed members to join the protest camp in eastern Cairo, which began as a peaceful sit-in.
Amin also said that Morsi's backers began using force against the police by shooting dead an officer, who was announcing warnings through a megaphone, demanding protesters to leave safely.
The pro-Morsi gunmen allegedly used civilians as human shields in the site, which resulted in large deaths.
The panel called on the military-backed government to bring those responsible for the deaths, from both sides, to justice. They also demanded swift training for police on how to disperse crowds and riots while observing the international standards set for the law enforcement.
Egypt has been hit by a wave of deadly violence and insurgency attacks since Morsi’s overthrow.
The government and many local media blame the Brotherhood for the unrest, though many of the attacks have been claimed by Islamist extremists based in the restive Sinai Peninsula.
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