Posted on Saturday, July 27, 2013
Hospital floor slick with blood after Egypt security forces open fire on Morsi supporters
CAIRO ? Scores of people were killed and dozens more wounded Saturday in the worst violence in recent Egyptian history as police opened fire on supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi.
Morsi supporters and the government offered widely different counts of the dead. The Muslim Brotherhood, the secret organization through which Morsi ascended to the presidency, claimed as many as 200 were dead, while the Ministry of Interior announced implausibly that police never fired a live round at the protesters, despite all evidence to the contrary. Health ministry officials revised the death toll throughout the day, with it hitting 80 by early Sunday. At least 792 people were injured, the ministry said.
A brief visit to a field hospital ? one of three treating casualties ? showed the brutality of what had taken place. A McClatchy reporter counted 27 dead laid out on the hospital?s floor, and as she left, three more bodies arrived, adding to a frantic and horrific scene. At least three of the dead had been shot in the head, and the gaping wounds left the victims? brains exposed.
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Doctors said the injuries could only have come from professional marksmen. Ebtesan Zain, a gynecologist, said she came to help her fellow doctors only to discover she was not needed ? everyone she encountered was dead.
?Those injuries had to be done by snipers. It couldn?t be anything else,? Zain said. ?They were shooting directly in the head between the eyes and in the chest.?
Egypt?s general-prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, said he had ordered an investigation into Saturday?s events, and the powerful al Azhar Mosque called for ?the criminal responsible? to be punished. But with the majority here clearly supporting the crackdown on the Brotherhood, as the turnout on Friday showed, an aggressive probe seemed unlikely.
State television, which had trumpeted Friday?s demonstrations and cancelled its usual fare of soap operas to encourage the turnout, made little mention of Saturday?s violence and resumed its regular programming.
At a news conference Saturday, Interior Minister Ibrahim showed little regret, saying Morsi supporters would be dealt with, ?God willing.?...
Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/...tian-security.html#.UfYYXKyZvMo#storylink=cpy
