Death Toll Climbs as Clashes Continue

[Photo by: Virginie Nguyen] [Photo by: Virginie Nguyen]

Death Toll Climbs as Clashes Continue

By : Mada Masr

The Ministry of Interior is instructed to "deal with Muslim Brotherhood members" after the curfew, Sherif Shawky, media advisor to the Cabinet told Al-Hayat television channel. 

"We are facing terrorism but we want to calm down the people. Forces are present," Shawky added.

Meanwhile, as violent clashes continue across Cairo and other governorates, a Mada Masr reporter has counted 45 corpses at the Taamin Sehi field hospital in Ramses alone. According to the Health Ministry the current number of dead civilians in today’s violence is 17, and 104 people have been injured nationwide.

The toll is expected to be much higher once the casualties from ongoing violence in downtown Cairo are brought to hospital, as supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi clash with security forces and residents in various neighborhoods in Cairo and other governorates.

The Interior Ministry called on citizens to avoid Galaa Square and Ramses and the Nile Corniche to allow it to “combat terrorism.” It has reported that 64 police personnel have been killed in today’s violence.

The Mada Masr journalist confirmed reports that gunfire is coming from helicopters flying over Ramses, where clashes continue as more than 20 marches headed there after Friday prayers and thousands of protesters have congregated. Violent confrontations have reached Galaa Street and continued in Azbakiya, where there were earlier reports of protesters attempting to attack the local police station.

Earlier in the day, another Mada Masr reporter on the scene said the violence started when some youths urged others to march towards Boulaq Abou al-Ela, a neighborhood known to be well-armed, near Ramses. Residents there have come into confrontations with deposed President Mohamed Morsi`s supporters before. Some youth from the protesters side started throwing stones even though others urged them to retreat, after which clashes erupted with residents of the area.

According to Mada Masr`s reporter, protesters who instigated the clashes at Azbakiya station were all youths. They had a yellow and red skull and crossbones flag. The majority of the crowd was urging them to retreat and physically trying to move them but they refused, at which point civilians joined.

Some protesters stuck in the gunfire on 6 October Bridge by Azbakiya Police Station had to jump off to escape the bullets. There was shooting seen coming from the station.

Inside Al-Fath Mosque, where corpses from the Ramses clashes were transferred, Mada Masr`s reporter spoke to Mohamed Oqda, a member of the Salafi Watan Party. He said that most of the dead had bullets in the neck, the chest and the head. He said that military choppers were firing live ammunition at protesters. He also said that people were firing with AK-47s, but he wasn`t sure if they were military, police or government thugs. Asked what`s next, he said, "more protesting, more escalation, we have to regain our country." 

The state-run Middle East News Agency reported that five cars drove to Ramses Square, carrying automatic weapons and Al-Qaeda flags that they distributed to the rest of protesters. 

Toward the evening, the building of the Arab Contractors, adjacent to the police station, was on fire. 

Clashes also broke out in Giza when security forces stopped a march from Istiqama Mosque heading towards Nahda Square. State news agency MENA says protesters attempted to attack the Mar Guirgis Church and the Giza Diocese in Mourad Street but were stopped by the police.

An attack on Shubra police station is being attempted, according to live streams on satellite channels, with gunfire in the area as residents try to protect it.

State TV has also reported that tear gas has been used against a march approaching Mostafa Mahmoud Square in Mohandiseen. There has been a heavy security presence there since the morning, and protesters are clashing with security forces on nearby Gameat al-Dawal Street.

A march that was heading to Mostafa Mahmoud Square May over the May 15 Bridge, which included some protesters visibly armed, turned around after coming into confrontations with residents of Boulaq al-Ela. A special forces police officer told Mada Masr that the march over May 15 Bridge included some armed protesters who were firing randomly in the air. When they got to Aboul al-Ela, they clashed with residents in the area. They then turned around and went back towards Mohandiseen, where an eyewitness said they were heading towards Sphinx Square, some with visible weapons.

An eyewitness also told Mada Masr that clashes between residents and Morsi supporters erupted in Shubra, after a march coming through the Ahmed Helmy Tunnel was stopped by residents. This is just on the other side of Boulaq al-Ela, and according to the eyewitness there is no security presence in the area.

Popular security committees have been formed there, and caught 15 protesters who are now being held in a coffee shop because they reportedly had weapons. Residents said they had called the police to come arrest them.

There are also reported attacks on the police station in 6th of October City and others in Giza. 

The Muslim Brotherhood organized the protests under the name of "the Friday of Wrath", two days following the forcible dispersal of their sit-ins by the army and the police. 

Borrowing a name from the January 28 "Friday of Wrath" that led to former President Hosni Mubarak`s ouster in 2011, today`s protests were expected to turn violent. They follow two days of scattered violence around Egypt, as Brotherhood supporters clashed with police and residents in various locations. 

The Brotherhood had announced that the day will be marked by 28 marches starting from several mosques in Cairo, according to the National Coalition for the Support of Legitimacy.

"Despite our pain for the loss of martyrs and the suffering of the injured, the crimes of the coup regime have made us more determined to reject it," the coalition said in a statement on Friday. The coalition also vowed that the protests will remain peaceful. 

In an address to his followers on Friday, Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said that protests will not stop because the Egyptian people want freedom. He added that the military`s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, who belonged to the group, is part of its plan to take over and rule Egypt. 

Meanwhile, the army deployed tanks around Tahrir Square, blocking all entrances, ahead of the Brotherhood`s planned protests. 

In a statement on Facebook, the Egyptian Cabinet wrote that the army, the police and the people are one hand in the face of the "brutal terrorist plot organized by the Brotherhood against Egypt."

[This article was originally published on Madamasr.]

American Elections Watch 1: Rick Santorum and The Dangers of Theocracy

One day after returning to the United States after a trip to Lebanon, I watched the latest Republican Presidential Primary Debate. Unsurprisingly, Iran loomed large in questions related to foreign policy. One by one (with the exception of Ron Paul) the candidates repeated President Obama`s demand that Iran not block access to the Strait of Hormuz and allow the shipping of oil across this strategic waterway. Watching them, I was reminded of Israel`s demand that Lebanon not exploit its own water resources in 2001-2002. Israel`s position was basically that Lebanon`s sovereign decisions over the management of Lebanese water resources was a cause for war. In an area where water is increasingly the most valuable resource, Israel could not risk the possibility that its water rich neighbor might disrupt Israel`s ability to access Lebanese water resources through acts of occupation, underground piping, or unmitigated (because the Lebanese government has been negligent in exploiting its own water resources) river flow. In 2012, the United States has adopted a similar attitude towards Iran, even though the legal question of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is much more complicated and involves international maritime law in addition to Omani and Iranian claims of sovereignty. But still, US posturing towards Iran is reminiscent of Israeli posturing towards Lebanon. It goes something like this: while the US retains the right to impose sanctions on Iran and continuously threaten war over its alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapon, Iran should not dare to assume that it can demand the removal of US warships from its shores and, more importantly, should not dream of retaliating in any way to punitive sanctions imposed on it. One can almost hear Team America`s animated crew breaking into song . . . “America . . . Fuck Yeah!”

During the debate in New Hampshire, Rick Santorum offered a concise answer as to why a nuclear Iran would not be tolerated and why the United States-the only state in the world that has actually used nuclear weapons, as it did when it dropped them on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki- should go to war over this issue. Comparing Iran to other nuclear countries that the United States has learned to “tolerate” and “live with” such as Pakistan and North Korea, Santorum offered this succinct nugget of wisdom: Iran is a theocracy. Coming from a man who has stated that Intelligent Design should be taught in schools, that President Obama is a secular fanatic, that the United States is witnessing a war on religion, and that God designed men and women in order to reproduce and thus marriage should be only procreative (and thus heterosexual and “fertile”), Santorum`s conflation of “theocracy” with “irrationality” seemed odd. But of course, that is not what he was saying. When Santorum said that Iran was a theocracy what he meant is that Iran is an Islamic theocracy, and thus its leaders are irrational, violent, and apparently (In Santorum`s eyes) martyrdom junkies. Because Iran is an Islamic theocracy, it cannot be “trusted” by the United States to have nuclear weapons. Apparently, settler colonial states such as Israel (whose claim to “liberal “secularism” is tenuous at best), totalitarian states such as North Korea, or unstable states such as Pakistan (which the United States regularly bombs via drones and that is currently falling apart because, as Santorum stated, it does not know how to behave without a “strong” America) do not cause the same radioactive anxiety. In Santorum`s opinion, a nuclear Iran would not view the cold war logic of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) as a deterrent. Instead, the nation of Iran would rush to die under American or Israeli nuclear bombs because martyrdom is a religious (not national, Santorum was quick to state, perhaps realizing that martyrdom for nation is an ideal woven into the tapestry of American ideology) imperative. Santorum`s views on Iran can be seen one hour and two minutes into the debate.

When it comes to Islam, religion is scary, violent and irrational, says the American Presidential candidate who is largely running on his “faith based” convictions. This contradiction is not surprising, given that in the United States fundamentalist Christians regularly and without irony cite the danger that American muslims pose-fifth column style- to American secularism. After all, recently Christian fundamentalist groups succeeded in pressuring advertisers to abandon a reality show that (tediously) chronicled the lives of “American Muslims” living in Detroit. The great sin committed by these American Muslims was that they were too damn normal. Instead of plotting to inject sharia law into the United States Constitution, they were busy shopping at mid-western malls. Instead of marrying four women at a time and vacationing at Al-Qaeda training camps in (nuclear, but not troublingly so) Pakistan, these “American Muslims” were eating (halal) hotdogs and worrying about the mortgages on their homes and the rising costs of college tuition. Fundamentalist Christians watched this boring consumer driven normalcy with horror and deduced that it must be a plot to make Islam appear compatible with American secularism. The real aim of the show, these Christian fundamentalists (who Rick Santorum banks on for political and financial support) reasoned, was to make Islam appear “normal” and a viable religious option for American citizens. Thus the reality show “All American Muslim” was revealed to be a sinister attempt at Islamic proselytizing. This in a country where Christian proselytizing is almost unavoidable. From television to subways to doorbell rings to presidential debates to busses to street corners and dinner tables-there is always someone in America who wants to share the “good news” with a stranger. Faced with such a blatant, and common, double standard, we should continue to ask “If Muslim proselytizers threaten our secular paradise, why do Christian proselytizers not threaten our secular paradise?”

As the United States Presidential Elections kick into gear, we can expect the Middle East to take pride of place in questions pertaining to foreign policy. Already, Newt Gingrich who, if you forgot, has a PhD in history, has decided for all of us, once and for all, that the Palestinians alone in this world of nations are an invented people. Palestinians are not only a fraudulent people, Gingrich has taught us, they are terrorists as well. Candidates stumble over each other in a race to come up with more creative ways to pledge America`s undying support for Israel. Iran is the big baddie with much too much facial hair and weird hats. America is held hostage to Muslim and Arab oil, and must become “energy efficient” in order to free itself from the unsavory political relationships that come with such dependancy. Candidates will continue to argue over whether or not President Obama should have or should not have withdrawn US troops from Iraq, but no one will bring up the reality that the US occupation of Iraq is anything but over. But despite the interest that the Middle East will invite in the coming election cycle, there are a few questions that we can confidently assume will not be asked or addressed. Here are a few predictions. We welcome additional questions from readers.

Question: What is the difference between Christian Fundamentalism and Muslim Fundamentalism? Which is the greater “threat” to American secularism, and why?

Question: The United States` strongest Arab ally is Saudi Arabia, an Islamic theocracy and authoritarian monarchy which (falsely) cites Islamic law to prohibit women from driving cars, voting, but has recently (yay!) allowed women to sell underwear to other women. In addition, Saudi Arabia has been fanning the flames of sectarianism across the region, is the main center of financial and moral support for Al-Qaeda and is studying ways to “obtain” (the Saudi way, just buy it) a nuclear weapon-all as part and parcel of a not so cold war with Iran. Given these facts, how do you respond to critics that doubt the United States` stated goals of promoting democracy, human rights, women`s rights, and “moderate” (whatever that is) Islam?

Question: Israel has nuclear weapons and has threatened to use them in the past. True or false?

Question: How are Rick Santorum`s views on homosexuality (or the Christian right`s views more generally) different than President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s or King Abdullah`s? Can you help us tease out the differences when all three have said that as long as homosexuals do not engage in homosexual sex, it`s all good?

Question: Is the special relationship between the United States and Israel more special because they are both settler colonies, or is something else going on?