EGYPT DECLARES 11-HOUR CURFEW IN 14 PROVINCES
Cairo, 8 Shawwal 1434/15 August 2013 (MINA) – Egypt’s cabinet declared an eleven-hour curfew in 14 provinces for a one-month period starting on Wednesday as political violence raged across Egypt.
Cabinet spokesman Sherif Shawqi said that the curfew – from 7p.m. to 6a.m. – would apply to the provinces of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Beni Sueif, Minya, Assiut, Sohag, North Sinai, South Sinai, Suez, Ismailia and Beheira.
A subsequent statement added the two provinces of Qena and Fayoum to the list. Violators, Shawqi said, would face arrest, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Earlier Wednesday, interim President Adly Mansour also declared a month-long state of emergency.
In a statement, the presidency said the army was tasked with helping police “take any steps necessary to maintain security and order, protect public and private property and secure people’s lives.”
The state of emergency allows security forces to arrest citizens without charge and carry out searches of homes and vehicles without judicial permission.
The move came hours after security forces violently dispersed two sit-ins staged by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo and Giza early Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, BBC report that security forces say 95 people have been killed. But the Muslim Brotherhood, which backed the protests, says hundreds have died.
Mohamed al-Beltagi, a leading figure of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party, Wednesday, said more than 300 people had been killed in the forcible dispersal of two sit-ins staged by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
“Bullets are raining down on our heads,” al-Beltagi told supporters who remained inside the besieged protest site. “More than 300 people have been killed.”
The 17-year-old daughter of Mohamed el-Beltagy was among the dead, reports say. Asmaa al-Beltagi was shot in the back and chest, her brother said.
A cameraman working for Sky News, Mick Deane, has also been killed – as has a reporter for Gulf News, Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz.
Shortly after dawn on Wednesday morning, armoured bulldozers moved deep into the main protest camp outside the eastern Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
Officials say the other protest camp, at Nahda Square, has also been cleared.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the violence. He urged “all Egyptians to concentrate their efforts on promoting genuinely inclusive reconciliation”, his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. (T/P09/E1).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
