BLAMING THE VICTIM: NSF mourns deaths, says 'can't help' but blame the Muslim Brotherhood

NSF calls for a private investigation into the Friday, Saturday violence, and to hold accountable all those responsible

Ahram Online , Sunday 28 Jul 2013

FAILED AND HYPOCRITICAL "LEADERS" 

"The National Salvation Front (NSF) expressed Saturday its ‘deepest sorrow’ for the murder of at least 74 Egyptians in clashes Friday night and early Saturday.


The group, which was the main Egyptian opposition coalition under Morsi, said that they "can’t help" but blame and condemn the Muslim Brotherhood for the deaths.The NSF assured in a statement that the top priority for all the country’s institutions and political parties, regardless of their views, should be protecting the lives of Egyptians and respecting basic human rights, especially the right to live.
According to the NSF, the Brotherhood “has gathered its supporters in Rabaa Al-Adawiya [sit-in in Cairo's Nasr City] for a month now and claims that confronting the armed forces and the police, attacking private and governmental institutions, and endangering the lives of the Egyptian citizens is jihad for God, and they will receive martyrdom if they [die] in these attacks.”
The NSF has also accused the Brotherhood of adopting an “inciting hostility approach” by exaggerating the numbers of deaths and injuries during the clashes. The Brotherhood, as described by the NSF, is seeking to “increase the conflicts, and cause more innocent Egyptian casualties.”
The NSF has urged for the immediate formation of an independent judicial commission to investigate the facts of the attacks, including investigation of the official statement by the Minister of Interior on Saturday along with the statements of the witnesses and injured.
“Based on reports of the committee, all those responsible must be held accountable, including the minister of interior, if it is proven that the security forces were involved in excessive use of force against protesters,” NSF declared.
Ending the statement, the NSF stated that the “leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were not content that millions of Egyptians [on Friday] took to the streets nationwide to confirm their adherence to the roadmap, announced on 3 July,” and thus the Muslim Brotherhood will try to “exploit the current strife to fuel more conflict and refuse national reconciliation.”
The NSF has urged the security forces to be alert to the Brotherhood’s intentions and to ‘exercise the utmost restraint when dealing with protesters.”
Hamdeen Sabbahi, President of the Egyptian Popular Current party and one of three figures chosen by the NSF to initiate dialogue with the interim president and his cabinet to ensure a swift transition, has echoed the same statements via his official Twitter account.
Egypt’s General Prosecutor Hesham Barakat has opened an investigation into the overnight clashes.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said on Saturday that the Muslim Brotherhood is “purposefully causing a crisis”, denying that the police opened fire on pro-Morsi demonstrators. However, eyewitnesses told Ahram Online that the police did in fact open fire on Morsi loyalists....... 

Fascist Egyptian Security forces shoot and kill an unarmed peaceful citizen

Syria flashbacks...

Video: Egypt: dozens killed in clashes between security forces and Mursi supporters

Interior Minister: Departments to combat extremism and monitor political and religious activities

BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Egypt Independent

"Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has reinstated departments' duty to combat extremism and monitor political and religious activities, activities which were suspended after the 25 January revolution.

He also said during a press conference on Saturday that promotions of police personnel would be announced on Monday.

“The untechnical restructuring of the Interior Ministry after the revolution, and the abolition of certain departments, are the reasons for the extremist activities that we see now,” Ibrahim said.

“Safety cannot be restored without political security,” he added."

Video by Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Bodies carried out of makeshift morgue in Rabaa

The Arab spring is being stifled by the force of arms

Middle East: there is no clear condemnation from the international community of political change delivered at gunpoint

Nabila Ramdani
The Observer, Saturday 27 July 2013

"The grotesque murders of ordinary Egyptians by their own military says everything about the non-progress of the Arab spring. Just a year since democratic elections were meant to herald an era of freedom and stability in the third largest country by population in Africa, we are witnessing nothing less than routine street slaughter.

Those killed and wounded by automatic gunfire in Cairo were trying to show their support for Mohammed Morsi, the elected president ousted by the army. Men with guns – and the inclination to use them against unarmed civilians – are now controlling a city that was once a focal point of hope and optimism.

Just as images of a packed, jubilant Tahrir Square came to symbolise the fleeting glories of the Arab spring, so world leaders such as Barack Obama endlessly pledged to stop dictators "killing their own people". Remember how readily David Cameron sent RAF jets to help bomb Gaddafi out of Libya? The "protection of civilian lives" was always the number one justification for the use of such lethal force, just as it was for the west eventually coming out in favour of revolutions all over the Middle East and North Africa.

Now, those same western leaders remain largely silent about the excesses of an army that was always the main power base of Egyptian despot Hosni Mubarak. No matter which way you look at it, the military's suppression of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood administration was a classic coup d'etat. Those who try to justify this triumph of military power are inevitably those who believe that martial force is the desired default position of any Arab country......

Nobody pretended that the Arab spring would provide a quick fix to the massive problems inherent in Arab societies, but if military force continues to remain the ultimate arbiter of which government is "allowed" to rule, then the killings will carry on unabated."

Egypt: 'The injuries were very precise … the snipers were shooting to kill'

The crush of dead and injured in the field hospitals was so intense that exhausted doctors struggled to cope

Patrick Kingsley
The Observer, Saturday 27 July 2013

An injured supporter of the deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi receives medical treatment in a makeshift hospital after clashes with riot police in Cairo. Photograph: Amru Salahuddien/Xinhua Press/Corbis

"By early Saturday afternoon, there were so many corpses arriving at Cairo's Zeinhom mortuary that the street outside was blocked with a queue of orange ambulances. Inside one of them, mechanical engineer Mohamed Khamis waited with the body of his 15-year-old son, Omar, shot in the head by police.
"He will go back to school this autumn, God willing," said Mohamed, struggling to come to terms with Omar's death, his hands still covered in his son's dried blood.

Six hours earlier, both father and son had been surveying the scene of Cairo's most recent massacre. They had taken care to avoid the frontline, but suddenly they heard gunfire close by. Mohamed turned to run.
"And as I turned, I felt him fall on my shoulder," said Mohamed, his body shaking slightly. "I put my hand out to catch him and his head fell on my hand. I felt his crushed skull. There was blood on the floor. He was already dead."
Omar Khamis was one of at least 100 pro-Mohamed Morsi supporters killed by state officials in an eight-hour-long massacre on Saturday morning – Egypt's second mass killing of Islamists in three weeks. In post-revolutionary Cairo, now more divided than ever after the toppling of Morsi on 3 July, the narrative of history is rarely straightforward. On Saturday the city was awash with claims and counterclaims about whether the bloody events had been provoked......

Some casualties reported seeing police or army snipers firing on protesters from buildings inside the nearby Al-Azhar University, and medics said the accuracy of the shooting suggested that snipers may have been in action.
"The injuries were very precise – which suggests they were shot by snipers," said Dr Mohamed Lotfy, in charge of the clinic's medical supplies. "There were bullet holes in the centre of the forehead and right in the back of the skull. It was not just shooting to injure. They were shooting to kill.""

Al-Jazeera Video

الداخلية تتعهد بفض الاعتصامات وتتهم الإخوان

LIAR, LIAR,....
HE SHOULD RESIGN....
EL-BARADEI SHOULD RESIGN......
THE PUTSCH IS BECOMING HARD TO COVER UP, EVEN WITH THE OFFICIAL MEDIA COMPLICITY!

TAMARRUD SHOULD STOP SUPPORTING THE MILITARY CRACKDOWN AND THE UPCOMING IMPOSITION OF EMERGENCY LAW!

• 

Rabaa Adaweya clashes - 27/7/2013

(90 photos total)

Al-Jazeera Video: مسؤول المستشفى الميداني في رابعة العدوية

Egyptian security forces shoot dead dozens of pro-Mursi supporters

"(Reuters) - Egyptian security forces shot dead at least 70 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi on Saturday, his Muslim Brotherhood said, days after the army chief called for a popular mandate to tackle "violence and terrorism".

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the shooting started shortly before pre-dawn morning prayers on the fringes of a round-the-clock sit-in being staged by backers of Mursi, who was toppled by the army more than three weeks ago.
"They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," Haddad said. The death toll might be much higher, he said.

Activists rushed blood-spattered casualties into a makeshift hospital, some were carried in on planks or blankets. One ashen teenager was laid out on the floor, a bullet hole in his head.
Al Jazeera's Egypt television station reported that 120 had been killed and some 4,500 injured in the early morning violence. A Reuters reporter at the scene counted 36 bodies at an improvised morgue.
There was no immediate comment from state authorities on what had happened. If the death toll is confirmed it would be the deadliest incident since Mursi was deposed, who is under investigation for a raft of crimes, including murder.
Weeks of violence have followed his ousting, leaving more than 200 dead and laying bare divisions that have polarized the Arab world's most populous state.

MASS RALLIES, "LIVE ROUNDS"

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians came out onto the streets in answer to General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's call on Wednesday for mass protests on Friday. Muslim Brotherhood supporters protested in similar numbers to demand Mursi's reinstatement. He is being detained at an undisclosed location.
The Brotherhood is a highly organized movement with grassroots support throughout Egypt, making it hard to silence even if the army decides to mount a more major crackdown.
Reporters at Rabaa al-Adawia, a northeastern Cairo suburb, said there was still firing hours after the violence started. Dr. Ibtisam Zein, overseeing the Brotherhood morgue, said most of the dead were hit in the head, some between the eyes......."

The Sisi Massacre Begins: More than 130 Morsi supporters killed in Egypt clashes

Death toll reaches at least 136 in Cairo as Muslim Brotherhood accuses security forces of shooting to kill

Patrick Kingsley and agencies in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 27 July 2013 

"At least 136 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.

The Egyptian health ministry said that it had counted only 20 dead so far – though their figures are only based on bodies delivered to state institutions. Reporters at the scene counted at least 36 corpses in a single room.

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........"

Azmi Bishara analyzes Egyptians crisis

Comment by Tony Sayegh 

We waited a long time to hear from Azmi about the Egyptian situation, but the wait was worth it. No one, and I repeat no one, can analyze what happened with such breadth and depth, better than Azmi. He is consistent and thorough. What he had been warning against for some time is now unfolding.

If you speak Arabic DO NOT MISS THIS INTERVIEW; IT IS SUPER!

Latest Comment by Azmi Bishara on Facebook

"يؤكد مشهد القاهرة اليوم ما قلناه دائما أن الاستقطاب الديني العلماني في الوطن العربي لا يقود الى ديمقراطية بل الى انقسام أهلي يقود إما الى الفوضى أو حكم العسكر، وأن الديمقراطية تتطلب تعددية من نوع آخر. يجب ان تفهم ذلك القوى الإسلامية والعلمانية. وأعتقد أن جيل الشباب من الطرفين بدأ يستوعب هذا الكلام.‬"

Egypt Tensions Escalate as Morsi Detained and Supporters of Army, Brotherhood Hold Rival Protests

Democracy Now!

"In the first update on ousted Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi’s status since he was forced from office and held incommunicado, Egyptian state media reports authorities have issued an arrest warrant calling for him to be detained for 15 days. A court is investigating Morsi’s alleged collaboration with the Palestinian group Hamas to escape from prison during the 2011 uprising against the Mubarak regime. The news comes as both sides of Egypt’s political divide are holding major protests after Army Chief General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi called for public backing of a military crackdown on what he called "violence and potential terrorism" by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. "The [Morsi] charges are a way to whitewash the former regime’s crimes and whitewash police crimes during the Mubarak era and the revolution," says Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, joining us from Cairo....."

Azmi Bishara Tweets (Sent by Zarathustra)

1. 18m

   27-لا بد من طرح حلول في مصر عبر الحوار ووقف سياسة الارتهان للشارع، والجماهير مفهوم دورها في الثورة على الاستبداد وليس في رسم السياسات

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2. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara20m

   26-لا تقوم ثقافة ديمقراطية في بلد الشارع فيها اقوى من الاحزاب، والجيش أقوى مؤسساتها، وسياسة أعداد الجماهير لا تؤدي إلى حوار عقلاني

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3. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara23m

   25-اختيار النظام البرلماني في مصر سيجنب مصر من الدخول في ثنائية اما رئيس علماني او اسلامي، وان يصبح الرئيس رمزي لتوحيد الامة

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4. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara24m

   24-في 25 يناير كان هناك مطلب بالغاء النظام الرئاسي والتحول إلى النظام البرلماني، ووضع الصلاحيات في الحكومة وهذا مخرج في #مصر

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5. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara25m

   23-النزعة العامة في تونس نحو تشكيل حكومة تحالف ويوجد استعداد للنهضة نحو الشراكة رغم الاخفاقات، كما ان الجيش التونسي غير المصري

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6. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara26m

   22-جرت محاولات مباشرة لنسخ تمرد مصر في حالة #تونس لكن هناك يظل استعداد أكثر للانفتاح بين القوى السياسية والاحتكام إلى الانتخابات

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7. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara28m

   21-على القوى السياسية الالتزام بقيم ثورة 25 يناير وان لا تدير ظهرها لها بالتحالف مع الفلول

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8. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara29m

   20-جهاز الدولة في مصر ادرك مبكرا أن مرسي كان ضعيفا، ومارس القضاء دورا في اسقاط شرعية المجالس المنتخبة، وقيدت الحريات من قبل جهاز الامن

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9. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara32m

   19-مؤسات الدولة بعد 30 يونيو تلقي بالعبئ على الشارع ما يثير الفوضى، ولكن هذا بدأ مع مرسي الذي لم يحاسب جهاز الدولة والمسؤولين الأمنيين

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10. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara34m

    18-ضخ الاموال والتحريض الاعلامي في مصر يهدف إلى تشويه ثقافة المصريين، وادانة العنف الحالي ليس كافيا ولابد من الاشارة بوضوح إلى الجناة

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11. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara36m

    17-التحريض على الفلسطينيين والعرب يتم تحت غطاء حراك شعبي ضد اخونة الدولة وليس فقط ضمن اوساط رسمية كزمن مبارك وهذا خطير ويمس الهوية العروبية

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12. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara40m

    16-الخصومة مع الاخوان أدت إلى تحالف جزء من ثوار 25 يناير مع فلول النظام السابق في النهاية، عززها اعلام عنصري تحريضي مدعوم من بعض دول الخليج

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13. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara43m

    15-الاخوان المسلمين في مصر كان نهجهم خاطئ، ولم ينفذوا وعودهم عندما وصلوا للرئاسة، والفرصة الاخيرة للشراكة سقطت في نوفمبر 2012

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14. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara46m

    14-الثورات العربية فتحت مسار التاريخ وسيسمح للفوضى بعض الوقت، والاسلاميون فشلوا وتم افشالهم، لكن قيم الديمقراطية ستنتصر في النهاية

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15. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara47m

    13- لو عاد رموز من النظام المخلوع فإن ثورة 25 يناير في نهاية الأمر أحدث تغييرا جوهريا في مصر، ولن يعود النظام السابق بنفس ادواته

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16. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara48m

    12-الجيش هو المنظمة الوحيدة المتماسكة في دول العالم الثالث واقوى من الاحزاب وهذا ما كان يبرر الانقلاب العسكري، لكن هذا التبرير لم يعد مقبولا

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17. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara50m

    11-في الحالة الراهنة اي رئيس قادم سيظل رهينة الجيش المصري وهذا ليس مسارا سليما للتحول الديمقراطي، والمفترض ان يقوم الجيش بوظيفة حماية الحدود

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18. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara51m

    10-دعوة السيسي غطاء سياسي لخلق زعيم شعبي جديد #مصر

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19. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara52m

    9-طلب وزير الدفاع السيسي لتفويض من أجل مكافحة الارهاب، يمثل سياسة شعبوية لارتكاب اي شيئ دون الحاجة للعودة إلى القانون

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20. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara54m

    8-الاخوان المسلمين دخلوا في صراعات سياسية بدلا من من الاتفاق على اصلاح جهاز الدولة

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21. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara55m

    7-مهمة اصلاح جهاز الدولة المرتبط بنظام المبارك، كان يتطلب اتفاقا بين قوى ثورة 25 يناير، وهذا لم يحصل وأخطأ الاخوان باعتمادهم على الصندوق فقط

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22. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara56m

    6-تنافس القوى السياسية وعدائها في ما بينها، جعل الفلول خارج الصورة، والاعلاميين الذين بكوا للتبرؤ فيهم الآن صوت نظام مبارك

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23. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara58m

    5- في 30 يونيو كانت احتجاجت لتصحيح مسار الثورة وليس اسقاط النظام، ولذا فهي ليست ثورة وانما استكمال لثورة وتصحيح الاخطاء التي وقعت

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24. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara1h

    4-ثورة 25 يناير كانت ضد استبداد الأمن وتطورت إلى اسقاط النظام وليس مبارك فقط، وانضم الجيش لها بعد ان ايقن مضطر للانحياز للشعب

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25. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara1h

    3-مصر ستتحول في النهاية إلى الديمقراطية، والاستقطابات الحالية ومنها الاحتفالية بثورة 23 يوليو جاءت لتبرير خطوة انقلاب الجيش حاليا

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26. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara1h

    2-بيان الجيش بشان مهلة الأسبوع شجع على خروج المتظاهرين، والحديث عن عدد المتظاهرين ليس مهما، المهم أن الحدث كان منسقا وواضح انه لاسقاط مرسي

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27. عزمي بشارة ‏@AzmiBishara1h

    1-#30_يونيو حدث هام جمع مشارب من اطياف الشعب المصري للاحتجاج على الاخوان المسلمين، لكن كان لجهاز الدولة دور اساسي في رفض حكومة الاخوان

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From Azmi Bishara

"عناصر تنذر بالفاشية، ولا تحتم انتصارها، ولكنها تشي ببداياتها، وللقوى الديمقراطية أن تستنفر لتمنع وقوعها، الذي ليس حتمي الوقوع بعد.

1. 1. ديماغوغيا تقديس الجيش والدولة، ليس في سياق تحرري ضد عدو محتل، بل في سياق مواجهة داخلية لفرض وحدة على مجتمع مقسم.
   2. إثارة الهستيريا الجماعية بدل الحوار السياسي العقلاني.
   3. لجوء صغار الساسة والفاشلين بينهم الى تفخيم وتعظيم الوطنية الشوفينية لاكتساب شعبية بأرخص ثمن....
   4. السيطرة على وسائل الإعلام، ونشر الأكاذيب والشائعات التي لا أساس لها بشيطنة الخصم.
   5. اتهام الخصم السياسي بجميع الشرور وبكل ما يحصل ويراه الناس سيئا.
   6. تحويل القضاء الى أداة بيد السياسة.
   7. ميل المثقفين الانتهازيين لتبرير كل ما يقوم به الأمن والجيش، وانضمامهم الى الهستيريا الجماعية، وخوف المثقفين المبدئيين من التعبير عن رأيهم

   "
   
   
   English Translation 
   
   There are features which augur of fascism and, while their dominance remains uncertain, they remain harbingers of fascism. It falls on democratic forces to be vigilant in preventing the following features, the fruition of which is an open question, from prevailing. 
   
   1) The demagogic sanctification of the army and the state, not in the context of a liberation struggle against occupying foreigners, but rather in a situation where unity is being imposed on a divided society through a domestic political feud.
   
   2) In place of rational political debate, mass hysteria is induced.
   
   3) The recourse of small-time, failed politicians to the aggrandisement of chauvinist jingoism to win popularity at the least possible cost.
   
   4) The commandeering of the media and the spreading of unfounded rumours as part of the demonization of domestic opponents. 
   
   5) Accusing political opponents of all possible evils, and of standing behind every event which is viewed unpopularly.
   
   6) The transformation of the judiciary into an institution subservient to politics. 
   
   7) The tendency of exploitative intellectuals to justify every action by the military and security apparatus, and the way they join in the mass hysteria. Likewise, the fear which principled intellectuals have of expressing their opinions.
   
   

Al-Jazeera Video: Morsi supporters react against arrest warrant decision

"Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reports from Nasr City where pro-Morsi rally take place as deposed president detained for 'spying for Hamas'."

Egyptian army questions Mohamed Morsi over alleged Hamas terror links

News of overthrown president's alleged help in 2011 attacks comes as showdown looms between Muslim Brotherhood and opponents

Patrick Kingsley in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 July 2013

"The overthrown Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, is under investigation for aiding Hamas attacks on Egyptian security facilities during Egypt's 2011 revolution, state media reported on Friday, in the first official update on his status since the Islamist was forced from office and detained incommunicado by the Egyptian army on 3 July......

According to state media, Morsi is under investigation for colluding with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, during the 2011 uprising that toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. It is alleged that Morsi and other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures were rescued from jail during the revolution with help from Hamas, and then helped the Palestinians attack Egyptian police facilities during Mubarak's removal. The Muslim Brotherhood says the fugitives left with the help of locals – and that Hamas had no role in the 2011 uprising.

"It's laughable," said Gehad al-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, reacting to the news. "It's every crime that you would think of if you were looking at the 2011 revolution through the eyes of Hosni Mubarak. It's retaliation from the Mubarak state."
Haddad's argument spoke to the belief that Morsi's overthrow has enabled the return of Mubarak-era officials and institutions sidelined by the 2011 revolution.

The decision by Egypt's judiciary to focus their investigations against Morsi on allegations from before his presidency began, rather than on human rights violations that occurred during the presidency itself, indicates that they may be wary of implicating state institutions such as the police, who were also complicit in the torture and killing of protesters under his tenure.........."