Scores are dead as Egypt descends into chaos following a brutal crackdown on massive sit-ins in support of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Morsi supporters have been rallying since July 3 demanding his reinstatement.
21:00 GMT: Egypt decided to recall its ambassador from Turkey for consultations, the state news agency reported on Thursday, after Ankara announced the same move.
"Nabil Fahmy, the foreign minister, decided to recall Egypt's ambassador in Ankara, Abdel Rahman Salah, for consultations," the state news agency reported, giving no further details.
20:48 GMT: As unrest in Egypt continues a number of foreign companies have temporarily closed their operations in the country.
Toyota Motor and Suzuki Motor halted production on Thursday out of safety concerns, Nikkei reports. Sumitomo Electric Industries of Japan evacuated expatriates from the country.
Sweden’s Electrolux home appliances manufacturer that employees 7,000 people in Egypt, has reportedly also stopped production processes at several factories, International Business Times reports.
General Motors closed its assembly plant outside Cairo while Royal Dutch Shell shut its offices for the next few days and restricted business travel. In the meantime the country’s stock exchange and banks remain closed.
20:29 GMT: The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors at 23:30 Egypt Time (21:30 GMT) to discuss the situation in Egypt. The meeting was jointly requested by France, the UK and Australia.
20:18 GMT: Following strong criticism of the Egyptian authorities over Wednesday’s clashes by Anakara, Turkey’s ambassador, Hüseyin Avni Botsali, to Egypt has been recalled for consultations, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan said Thursday.
20:14 GMT: Egypt's ambassador in the UK has told reporters at a news conference that many pro-Morsi protesters were armed during Wednesday’s clashes, therefore authorities had the right to respond with deadly force. He also suggested that in some cases protesters had shot one another to make their point.
"They (protesters) got what they wanted, they showed they were the victims," Ambassador Ashraf ElKholy said.
19:40 GMT: Egypt's Christian minority faces reprisal attacks after the army's crackdown on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, Senior UN human rights officials say.
“A number of Christian churches and institutions have been targeted, including in the provinces of Assiut, Fayoum, Minya and Sohag, reportedly in retaliation to the incidents in Cairo," UN special advisors Adama Dieng and Jennifer Welsh said in statement, condemning the violence by the military and urging the sides to “take all possible steps to facilitate peaceful resolution of disputes in the country."
19:35 GMT: Egypt’s foreign ministry held a meeting with foreign reporters, explaining Wednesday’s dispersal of two large camps of pro-Morsi supporters, local Ahram paper reports.
Egyptian officials stressed that the decision to end the sit-ins came after a failure of negotiations and efforts by all sides, including the international community, to peacefully end the sit-ins.
Aerial footage of the dispersals was also shown, including a video of protesters using live ammunition against the security forces.
19:33 GMT: The death toll in Wednesday’s violence in Egypt has risen to 638 people, with 3,994 injured, AP reports citing the country’s Health Ministry.
19:00 GMT: The US State Department has warned the American citizens not to travel to Egypt and called on those already there to leave the country where at least 578 people were killed in clashes between the army and pro-Morsi protesters, AFP reports.
18:37 GMT: Senior European Union diplomats will meet in Brussels on Monday to assess the situation in Egypt and possible EU action, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. The diplomats will discuss convening EU foreign ministers, but no decision on when the FMs would meet has been taken.
18:31 GMT: Australia, the UK and France have requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in order to discuss the deteriorating situation in Egypt. According to sources, the meeting may be held in the coming hours.
18:22 GMT: 578 people were killed in an Egyptian military crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, Reuters reports citing the country’s Health Ministry.
17:50 GMT: Egypt's Interior Ministry has authorised the use of live ammunition by police against protesters attacking government buildings, according to a statement on Thursday.
"The interior ministry has instructed all forces to use live ammunition to counter any attacks on government buildings or forces," it said.
17:48 GMT: The cabinet cancels shortening curfew hours. The curfew imposed in Cairo and 13 other major cities will still begin at 7pm local time (1700 GMT) and last till 6am, Egypt's interim authorities said in a statement.
17:47 GMT: The US is outraged by attacks on Coptic Churches in Egypt, said US state Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, who added that the US also condemns the attack on a government building in Giza. The country will continue reviewing its aid policy to Egypt.
17:25 GMT: US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Egypt on Thursday that the US remains ready to work with all parties to ensure a peaceful way forward is achieved in the country. In a call to Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, he said that the Pentagon would maintain military ties with the country.
"But I made it clear that the violence and inadequate steps towards reconciliation are putting important elements of our longstanding defense cooperation at risk," Hagel said in a statement to Reuters.
16:21 GMT: Curfew in Cairo and 13 other cities is to be shortened, the government said in a statement. It will start at 9pm local time, instead of 7pm, and will be lifted at 6am.
16:20 GMT: EU ministers are to meet next week to discuss the situation in Egypt, said Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino.
“We tried to mediate together with the United States, but it failed because the military accepted no compromises,” Bonino commented to the website Affaritaliani.it. “A meeting of EU foreign ministers is foreseen for Monday or Tuesday.”
The gathering has not yet been finalized, but ministers are expected to say yes.
16:19 GMT: Seven Egyptian soldiers have been killed near the city of El-Arish, North Sinai, having been shot to death by gunmen according to medical sources quoted by Reuters. A further five were injured in a different occurrence of gunfire when an army tent was struck with bullets.
Egyptians search through the debris at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo on August 15, 2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of the Egypt's ousted Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi the previous day. (AFP Photo)
15:41 GMT: Live ammunition will be used to repulse any attack on public buildings or security forces, Egyptian state TV reports the Interior Ministry as saying.
15:20 GMT: The interim government said it is ready to combat "terrorist acts" by the Muslim Brotherhood. A government statement said it saw a "criminal plan to demolish the pillars of the Egyptian state." However, the government also said it was seeking an "inclusive political process" open to anyone who was not involved in violence.
14:40 GMT: US President Barack Obama has called off joint US-Egypt military drills which had been scheduled to take place next month. The biannual Bright Star exercise is central to US-Egyptian relations since it began some three decades ago. Obama condemned the “steps that have been taken by Egypt’s interim government and security forces” and said "the cycle of violence and escalation" needs to be stopped.
14:22 GMT:
14:20 GMT: At least three people were killed and 55 others injured when Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed with local residents at a rally in Alexandria, reports Al Arabiya.
13:45 GMT: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called on Egypt to “step back from the brink of disaster.” The plea was aimed at all sides involved in the conflict. However, Pillay said that they death toll indicated that “an excessive, even extreme use of force” had been employed against demonstrators and said that those responsible for deaths should be held to account.
13:26 GMT: Hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters have stormed a government building in Egypt’s third largest city of Giza. They threw Molotov cocktails and fired shots at the building, setting it on fire. The interior ministry says all government employees were evacuated before the siege began.
12:50 GMT: The Muslim Brotherhood-led Anti-Coup Alliance suffered “a very serious blow” in the confrontation with security forces when a number of its leaders were arrested, a spokesman for the movement said.
11:54 GMT: Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members are marching in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, protesting against the Wednesday crackdown on sit-ins in the capital Cairo.
"We will come back again for the sake of our martyrs," the marchers chanted, referring to the hundreds of protesters killed Wednesday in the security operation across Egypt. Some protesters carried portraits of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
11:51 GMT:
11:35 GMT: The detention of ousted President Mohamed Morsi was extended for another 30 days, MENA news agency reported. The president is being held in an undisclosed location. European officials visited him during the recent international attempt at mediation and confirmed he is alive and well.
11:30 GMT: Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood outside Egypt took to the streets of cities around the world to voice their support for the movement amid athe security crackdown. Demonstrations were held Thursday in Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait and Turkey, with protesters calling for an end of military rule and reinstatement of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
An Indonesian Muslim youth takes part in a protest against the Egyptian government's crackdown on supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Mursi, in Jakarta August 15, 2013 (Reuters / Beawiharta)
11:14 GMT:
GMT 10:44: A group of 19 tourists from Poland have been stranded in their Egyptian holiday resort due to the ongoing turmoil in the country, Polish television channel TVN24 reported. They were supposed to leave the country via the Al Nakb Airport in the Sinai Peninsula, but the roads from their resort were blocked. On Wednesday, the Polish Foreign Ministry warned its citizens to be cautious while visiting Egypt.
10:32 GMT: Egypt’s Ambassador to Britain, Ashraf El Kholy, has been called in to the Foreign Office to hear London’s concerns over the violence in Egypt.
10:16 GMT: Military prosecutors are to investigate 84 people from the city of Suez, including some Muslim Brotherhood members, over allegations of murder and burning down Christian churches, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
10:11 GMT: Germany has summoned Egyptian Ambassador Mohamed Abdelhamid Ibrahim Higazy to explain the Egyptian government’s violent crackdown on the opposition. Germany sees the most important task now as preventing an escalation of violence, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
09:50 GMT: Al-Jazeera reported seeing more than 250 bodies killed at Wednesday’s protest camps stored at a mosque in northeast Cairo. Egypt’s Health Ministry’s latest death toll currently stands at 421, based on a body count of corpses transported to hospitals and morgues.
Egyptians mourn at a mosque in Cairo where lines of bodies wrapped in shrouds are laid out on August 15, 2013 (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Khaled)
09:15 GMT: The Muslim Brotherhood announced plans to hold a protest march on Thursday in defiance of the government’s crackdown and state of emergency.
"Marches are planned this afternoon from Al-Iman mosque to protest the deaths," the Islamist group said in a statement.
09:00 GMT: France has called on Egyptian Ambassador Nasser Ahmed Kamel to explain Wednesday’s security crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. French President Hollande urged action "to avoid civil war" in Egypt. Earlier, France joined an international chorus of condemnation of the violence.
08:43 GMT: Egypt has closed its border crossing with the Gaza Strip indefinitely, citing the deteriorating security situation, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported, citing a source in the Gaza Strip. The move comes after increasing violence in the Sinai Peninsula, where militants have been attacking Egyptian military outposts.
08:40 GMT:
08:20 GMT: Russia’s Foreign Ministry called on Egypt’s various political factions to act in their country’s national interests and prevent further escalation of violence in the country.
“We are convinced that the democratic renovation and thorough reform in the interest of all Egyptians is only possible through an encompassing dialogue, a renewal of a political process based on national reconciliation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said.
The ministry also warned Russian tourists visiting Egypt to refrain from visiting Cairo and other large cities.
07:35 GMT: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the UN Security Council to convene quickly and take action over the Egyptian crisis.
"Those who remain silent in the face of this massacre are as guilty as those who carried it out," Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara.
07:30 GMT: Wednesday’s violence across Egypt left at least 343 people dead and almost 3,000 injured, the country’s Health Ministry said. The majority of victims were killed by gunshots or suffocated in concentrated tear gas clouds, the ministry said.
Egyptians mourn over a body wrapped in shrouds at a mosque in Cairo on August 15, 2013, following a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the previous day (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Khaled)
05:40 GMT: Traffic restarted through Cairo districts where the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins were previously located. The movement apparently remains defiant in the face of a continued crackdown by security forces, with spokesman Gehad El-Haddad pledging on his Twitter account “to bring down the military coup" through peaceful action.
00:46 GMT: Amnesty International is working on the ground in Egypt to authenticate any abuses that have been carried out as authorities cleared pro-Morsi sit-ins on Wednesday. The organization also urged all sides to avoid further bloodshed.
“Promises by the authorities to use lethal methods only as a last resort to disperse protesters appear to have been broken. All too often in the past the Egyptian security forces have used excessive force against demonstrators with catastrophic consequences,” said Philip Luther, Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
The “immediate priority” for the security forces, Amnesty says, is to avoid further loss of life.
In response to reports of restricted access to the main hospital near the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in, the organization called on authorities to provide a safety corridor.
“As an immediate step, any injured protesters must be granted unimpeded access to medical treatment. The authorities must also ensure safe exit for anyone wishing to leave the sit-in,” said Philip Luther.
00:32 GMT: Egypt's health ministry has raised the civilian death toll to 238 with more than 2,000 injured in clashes across the country. Muslim Brotherhood meanwhile claims that at least 2,600 people have been killed and over 10,000 injured during the crackdown.
GMT 00:17: Western diplomats were warning the Egyptian military not to use force against the Muslim Brotherhood right up until it happened, Reuters reports, citing western and Egyptian sources. Despite this, the hardline position prevailed.
"We had a political plan that was on the table, that had been accepted by [the Muslim Brotherhood]," said EU envoy Bernardino Leon, who was involved in an attempt to mediate a solution to the crisis. "They could have taken this option. So all that has happened today was unnecessary."
The generals chose to face down international criticism over the crackdown, including diplomatic condemnation and the prospect of losing international aid for the country’s cash-strapped economy, an Egyptian source said. The generals were pressured by public opinion into taking action, after critical comments from visiting US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham last week and leaked reports of a possible deal between the authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Wednesday, August 14
23:47 GMT: Ecuador has recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations following the crackdown on pro-Morsi protesters.
“Following the coup d’état which toppled President Morsi in July of this year, Egyptian society has been wrapped up in a climate of civil protest and repression on the part of the de facto government," the brief statement said.
23:00 GMT: A group of Christian activists has assembled a
report claiming that at least 45 Christian building were attacked by pro-Morsi protesters on Wednesday. In Minya, the group counted 12 attacks, while 8 were reported in Assiut. Both cities have seen violence on Wednesday as protesters clashed with security forces. Authorities fired tear gas at thousands of Morsi supporters who had set one of the churches on fire in Minya. In Assiut about 3,000 Morsi supporters clashed with police.
22:17 GMT: Revised figures suggest 41 people have been killed in Minya province alone, Ahram online sites Minya’s head of the Health Ministry. Six of the dead are policemen. The total number of casualties stands at 278 according to the Egyptian Health Ministry.
21:36 GMT: Egyptian authorities have released a video showing a large number of arms and ammunition allegedly seized from Morsi supporters in Al Nadha Square in Giza. The origin of the footage could not be independently verified.
21:28 GMT: Protesters are defying the curfew imposed across Egypt. Pro-Morsi rallies have been reported in Port Said and North Sinai.
21:25 GMT: EU’s chief diplomat, Catherine Ashton urged Egypt’s government to end a month-long state of emergency imposed earlier on Wednesday.
“I call on the security forces to exercise utmost restraint and on the interim government to end the state of emergency as soon as possible, to allow the resumption of normal life,” Ashton said.
Ashton condemned the violence and criticized the burning of Christian churches.
“I also condemn the attacks on churches and offices that have taken place in the course of what has been a violent day, leaving the country in a state of emergency and heading into an uncertain future,” she added.
21:10 GMT: Following the brutal assault on Egyptian protest camps, the United States is considering calling off a military exercise with Egypt, a US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The possibility of scrapping the "Bright Star" exercise was discussed at a meeting of the "deputies committee," which gathers officials from key US national security agencies, the official said.
A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi searches through the debris while a fellow demonstrator throws an object during clashes with police in Cairo on August 14, 2013, as security forces backed by bulldozers moved in on two huge pro-Morsi protest camps, launching a long-threatened crackdown that left dozens dead. (AFP Photo/Mosaab El-Shamy)
20:55: GMT: Egypt's interim premier, Hazem El-Beblawi, told Egyptians Wednesday evening that the country can no longer accept the pro-Morsi sit-ins, Ahram online reports.
"As a state, we reached a level in which we cannot accept this method of protesting. Still we gave a chance for reconciliation, and even for international meditation, in order to have democracy in the future. But there was no respect for the right of peaceful protest," said El-Beblawi.
Claiming that the government is acting in the best interest of the people during the month of Ramadan, claiming that the goal was achieved.
"The first phase is achieved, but now with the current chaos the state has to intervene with exceptional procedures," the premier said, referencing the state of emergency that has been imposed for a month starting Wednesday 4pm.
20:17 GMT: Egypt is getting “close to a civil war” as the country has been taken over by a “hard hand military coup,” war correspondent Eric Margolis told RT.
“This is the counter revolution by the old guard, by Mubarak’s people, to re-establish their position in Egypt. They’ve seized the high points in Egypt, all the control levels which the Muslim Brotherhood never had, and are re-imposing their will very quickly.”
The new government, Margolis says successfully “re-imposed a reactionary group of security officers, police, bureaucrats, judges” as well as taking over the media sources.
Margolis claims that all of this is being financed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, because the West is turning “a blind eye” to events in Egypt. Supporters of the “putsch” want Mubarak and his forces to“crush the demands for real democracy,” as Margolis foresees Mubarak “may be let out of jail soon.”
20:00 GMT: At least 278 people were killed and 2,001 others injured in Wednesday violence nationwide, reports Al Jazeera quoting the Ministry of Health. The tally includes 43 killed policemen.100 people were killed in Cairo with most fatalities having occurred in the square outside Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
19:35 GMT: Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim denies the statement issued earlier that eight senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including Mohamed el-Beltagi, had been arrested.
19:26 GMT: Thousands of arms have been seized during the police operation, PM El-Beblawi said.
19:10 GMT: Interim PM Hazem El-Beblawi says the two protest camps in Cairo have been completely cleared and no more protest camps will be allowed.
Egyptian Muslim brotherhood supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi look up at a vehicle burning on six October bridge during clashes with riot police after security forces dispersed Morsi supporters on August 14, 2013 in Cairo. (AFP Photo/Khaled Kamel)
19:01 GMT: 43 police members were killed in clashes with Pro-Morsi protesters on Wednesday nationwide; 211 others sustained injuries, the Interior Ministry said. They added that Muslim Brotherhood supporters torched 7 mosques and attacked 21 police stations across the country.
18:53 GMT: Interim Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi calls for minute of silence for "fallen martyrs."
18:52 GMT: The US State Department says America's aid policy on Egypt is still under review.
"Looking at the events today and the events of the last couple of weeks we will continue to not only monitor and be engaged, but will review the implications for our broader relationship, which includes aid," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a daily briefing
A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi throws a water container onto a fire during clashes with police in Cairo on August 14, 2013, as security forces backed by bulldozers moved in on two huge pro-Morsi protest camps, launching a long-threatened crackdown that left dozens dead. (AFP Photo/Mosaab El-Shamy)
US officials have been grappling with how to respond to the situation in Egypt, in particular, how to handle the $1.55 billion in mostly military aid that Washington sends each year to Cairo, a key ally in the Middle East.
The situation in the country remains fluid, but the State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki still would not characterize it as a “civil war.”
18:41 GMT: Interim Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi pledges the state of emergency will last "for the shortest time possible", reports Al-Arabiya. The PM added that Egypt remains committed to the electoral process under a civilian state and that every chance was given to diplomatic solutions.
18:36 GMT: 41 people were killed in the city of Minya, 200 km south of the capital, as security forces assaulted protest camps set up by pro-Morsi supporters, Health Ministry officials said. The tally includes 6 policemen and the head of a local ambulance department.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi throw stones at riot police and the army during clashes around the area of Rabaa Adawiya square, where they are camping, in Cairo August 14, 2013. (Reuters/Asmaa Waguih)
18:30 GMT: US Secretary of State John Kerry called Wednesday's events in Egypt "deplorable" calling for a sooner end of the proclaimed state of emergency and curfew. "Violence is simply not a solution", it can only "further tear the economy apart", he added.
"The interim government and the military - which together possess the preponderance of power in this confrontation - have a unique responsibility to prevent further violence and to offer constructive options for an inclusive peaceful process across the political spectrum," Kerry told reporters at the State Department.
"This includes amending the constitution and holding parliamentary and presidential elections, which the interim government itself has called for," he said.
17:48 GMT: A collective of pro-Morsi supporters have called on fellow Egyptians to continue to stage nationwide protests against what it deems an 'army coup'. The group calls itself the Anti-Coup Alliance.
17:44 GMT: Egyptian security forces have arrested eight Muslim Brotherhood leaders during the police operation to take over Rabaa, sources told NBC News. Security officials went on to announce their forces are in total control of the main protest camp.
17:39 GMT: State TV announced that the curfew has been postponed, meaning it will start at 9pm rather than 4pm, as had been previously announced. It will still continue until 6am.
Fireworks were seen going off in the capital. However, it was unclear weather they were ignited intentionally, as has been the case at previous protests, or whether it was by accident, because of the numerous blazes which have been happening in the city.
17:12 GMT: Russia has shut the consular section of its Cairo embassy for two days, according to the Foreign Ministry. Moscow has called on the interim authorities in Egypt to prevent any further bloodshed.
16:34 GMT: The country's second largest Islamist party, the Nour Party, has condemned the political violence, calling for it to end while saying it "threatens to split society."
The party said that it was holding the army-backed government responsible for the deaths of at least 149 people across the country, after security forces made their move against pro-Morsi rallies.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi flee from tear gas and rubber bullets fired by riot police during clashes, on a bridge leading to Rabba el Adwia Square where they are camping, in Cairo August 14, 2013. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
16:31 GMT: 15 people were killed in clashes based in the northeastern city of Ismailia, according to further medical sources who spoke to Reuters. The proportion of the 15 who had been police and the proportion who had been civilians remains unclear. The deaths were caused predominantly by live ammunition. however, others died after being wounded by birdshot.
A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi fires fireworks towards police during clashes in Cairo on August 14, 2013, as security forces backed by bulldozers moved in on two huge pro-Morsi protest camps, launching a long-threatened crackdown that left dozens dead. (AFP Photo/Mosaab El-Shamy)
16:25 GMT: Egyptian police forces have seized full control of the second camp of Morsi supporters in Cairo, according to state TV. It was reported that pro-Morsi loyalists were allowed safe passage out of the camp.
Watch RT's Bel Trew report on the latest developments from Egypt
15:47 GMT: The health ministry has confirmed that the nationwide death toll currently stands at 149, with a further 1,403 injured.
15:46 GMT: Egypt's acting Vice President and Nobel laureate, Mohammed ElBaradei, has resigned. In his resignation letter to the acting President, he said that there had been peaceful methods by which the country's political crisis could have been ended.
"...there were proposed and acceptable solutions for beginnings that would take us to national consensus...It has become difficult for me to continue bearing responsibility for decisions that I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear. I cannot bear the responsibility for one drop of blood," he wrote.
15:33 GMT: The death toll from Fayoum clashes has risen to 35 according to a health ministry official. Meanwhile, Pro-Morsi supporters have shot four policemen to death at a police station in Cairo, state TV reported.
15:15 GMT: "The US strongly condemns the use of violence against protesters in Egypt," said Josh Earnest, the White House deputy press secretary. "We have repeatedly called on Egypt security forces to show restraint," he stated, "just as we have urged protesters to demonstrate peacefully." The US asked that Egypt's interim government respected human rights and stated its strong opposition to the declaration of a state of emergency.
15:00 GMT: Am Egyptian cabinet statement announced that a curfew from 7pm to 6am local time is in place for the length of the state of emergency, encompassing Cairo, and 10 further provinces, including Suez, North and South Sinai, and Giza.
"Whoever violates these orders will be punished with imprisonment," the government said.
While the Suez Canal is operating as usual, the curfew could cause some delays, Reuters later heard from shipping sources.
14:50 GMT: Alexandria Library and Cairo's engineering college have both been subject to bouts of gunfire. State TV reported shots fired around the college while Alexandria Library suffered a direct attack, according to Al Arabiya.
Army bulldozers remove a barricade errected by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi during clashes with riot police at Cairo's Mustafa Mahmoud Square on August 14, 2013 (AFP Photo / Str)
14:07 GMT: Egypt's health ministry are now saying that 95 people died in Wednesday's clashes. "The dead are both from police and civilians. We are waiting to get more details," the ministry's spokesman, Hamdi Abdel Karim, told Reuters.
13:45 GMT: A month-long state of emergency has been announced by Egypt's current President, starting at 4pm local time. He has authorized the armed forces to support the interior ministry in imposing the state of emergency, according to a statement.
13:38 GMT: A security source has informed the newspaper Youm 7 that Rabaa al-Adawya square is to be cleared completely within 30 minutes.
13:32 GMT: The Ministry of Health have upped their death count to 60 dead, with a further 874 injured, according to state-owned outlet Ahram.
13:25: The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the violence used to disperse protesters from the capital.
“In the aftermath of today’s violence, the Secretary-General urges all Egyptians to concentrate their efforts on promoting genuinely inclusive reconciliation,” his spokesperson said.
Watch RT's Bel Trew report on the latest developments from Egypt
13:11 GMT: The death toll at one hospital in Cairo has risen to 60 after police raided a pro-Morsi rally, a medical worker told Reuters.
12:52 GMT: The number dead in Fayoum has risen to 17, according to the state news agency.
12:51 GMT: Current AFP reports state that the death toll stands at 124. The reporter who counted the bodies in three morgues at Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque says many appear to have died from gunshot wounds.
The 17 year old daughter of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohamed el-Beltagi, was killed when police raided Rabaa square in Cairo. Her brother stated that she had been shot on his Twitter account.
An Egyptian woman tries to stop a military bulldozer from hurting a wounded youth during clashes that broke out as Egyptian security forces moved in to disperse supporters of Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi in eastern Cairo on August 14, 2013 (AFP Photo / Mohammed Abdel Moneim)
12:45 GMT: Egypt's health ministry have stated that in total 56 people have been killed and a further 526 injured in clashes across the country, according to AP. Khaled el-Khateeb, the official, stated that 28 were killed in Cairo on Wednesday when police confronted two separate pro-Morsi camps, adding that a further 25 had been killed in Minya province to Cairo’s south and just one killed in each city of Alexandria, Assiut and Ban Suef.
12:35 GMT: Five people have been killed in Suez after pro-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators attempted to storm a government building, according to a medical official.
12:20 GMT: Nasr City police fired gunshots in the air to disperse Muslim Brotherhood protesters, reported an Al Arabiya correspondent. A curfew intended to be set in place will also be "strictly implemented," according to the reports.
Watch RT's Bel Trew report on the latest developments from Egypt
12:12 GMT: Sky TV Arabic have confirmed that one of their cameramen, Mick Deane, has been killed in Rabaa al Adawiya, Egypt.
An Egyptian woman tries to stop a military bulldozer from going forward during clashes that broke out as Egyptian security forces moved in to disperse supporters of Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi in a huge protest camp near Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in eastern Cairo on August 14, 2013 (AFP Photo / Mohammed Abdel Moneim)
12:01 GMT:
11:55 GMT: The Iranian Foreign Ministry has spoken out against the violence with which the protests were supressed, calling it a "brutal crackdown," "killing of scores of the Egyptian people."
11:50 GMT:
11:43 GMT: Hospital officials report that at least nine people have been killed in the northeastern province of Fayoum during violent clashes between Morsi supporters and Egypt's police forces. The fighting occurred at two police stations that were being attacked by protesters, during which one police vehicle was set alight according to witnesses cited by Reuters. The death toll rose from the seven that had been identified earlier in the day.
11:40 GMT: Habeeba Abdelaziz, a Egyptian journalist from from Dubai, has been pronounced dead in the chaos.
11:30 GMT: The Turkish PM Erdogan has added his voice, imploring the UN security council and the Arab League to stop the "massacre" in Egypt, according to an official statement.
Egyptian security forces stand amidst remains of a protest camp by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood after a crackdown on August 14, 2013 near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque (AFP Photo / Mahmoud Khaled)
11:00 GMT: Qatar has condemned the Egyptian security forces' attack, according to the state news agency. A foreign ministry official insructed them to "refrain from the security option in dealing with peaceful protests, and to preserve the lives of Egyptians at protest sites."
10:20 GMT: Morsi supporters torch three churches in Egypt in reprisal attacks as police dispersed demonstrations in Cairo. The assailants threw firebombs at Mar Gergiss church in Sohag, a city with a large community of Coptic Christians, causing the structure to burn down, the official MENA news agency said.
Authorities told Agence France Presse that another two churches were attacked in El-Menia province, leaving them partially damaged by fire.08:00 GMT: Protests spreading across Egypt following Cairo crackdown. Pro-Morsi supporters are massing in second city of Alexandria, as well as in Aswan and Beni Suef.
09:46 GMT: EU says reports of deaths of protesters in Egypt are extremely worrying, calls for restraint from authorities.
09:27 GMT: Health Ministry says 13 people are dead including five police officers.
09:04 GMT: Six people injured in clashes in Gharbya, area about an hour north of Cairo, according to Al-Jazeera.
08:41 GMT: Nahda Square in central Cairo is cleared of protesters, while confusion remains at Rabaa Square over the number of casualties, according to witness accounts given to local media
08:37 GMT: Transportation Ministry orders the shutdown of Cairo-bound trains as violence continues. Opposition activists say the move is to prevent protesters from traveling to the capital following the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi gatherings this morning.
08:32 GMT: A number of leading officials in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood were arrested on Wednesday, an official said, after security forces cleared out a camp of Cairo protesters who were demanding the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Morsi.
"We have arrested a number of Brotherhood leaders but it's too early to announce their names," General Abdel Fattah Othman, a senior official in the Interior Ministry, told the privately-owned CBC TV channel.
08:00 GMT: Egyptian security forces forcefully dispersed protesters loyal to ousted President Mohammed Morsi at protest camps in Cairo early Wednesday. At least 15 people, including some members of the security forces, were reported killed in the clashes. Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad, however, claimed that as many as 600 people had been killed and 5,000 injured in the police operation.
Sunday, August 11
16:11 GMT: Police are expected to begin taking action against pro-Morsi protesters early on Monday, said security sources.
15:45 GMT: Thousands of Morsi supporters rallied in Cairo, mainly gathering at the square near Rabaa Adawiya mosque, Al Jazeera reported.
Egyptian women from the Muslim Brotherhood hold portraits of ousted President Mohammed Morsi as they march in his support on August 11, 2013 in Cairo.(AFP Photo / Gianluigi Guercia)
12:15 GMT: Morsi supporters have called more rallies for Sunday. The Anti-Coup Alliance said that ten marches would take place in Cairo "to defend the electoral legitimacy" of the ousted president, AFP reported.
Saturday, August 3
17:30 GMT: 37 Morsi loyalists have been accused of "terrorism" after they allegedly joined clashes on Friday outside the Egyptian Media Production City, which left over twenty people injured. The Health Ministry said that 23 people were wounded outside the media center, which are home to a number of satelite channels that are scathingly criticial of Morsi and his allies.
15:13 GMT: Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told US and EU mediators on Saturday that they respected the demands of a mass protest that led to Morsi’s downfall, but rejected the role of Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in any political deal, according to a report published by Reuters. Tarek El-Malt, a pro-Morsi spokesman, told the agency that Egypt’s crisis should be resolved on the basis of the Constitution introduced by Morsi’s government, which was revoked after his ouster.“We have the readiness and flexibility to accept political solutions to get out of this crisis as long as they are based on constitutional legitimacy, by which we mean the return and reactivation of the 2012 constitution,”El-Malt said said, adding that “the army will not have a role in political solutions.”
12:14 GMT: In the latest bout of unrest, 23 people have been injured at a Media Production City complex in Cairo, including two policemen.
The Egyptian Interior Ministry said that police had taken 31 members of the Muslim Brotherhood into custody after they attempted to break into the complex. They chanted slogans against the military and prominent media figures.
Friday, August 2
21:56 GMT: Amnesty International says that there is evidence, and eye witness accounts indicating that Pro-Morsi supporters tortured their rivals. Testimonies from victims include accounts of how they were captured, assaulted and subjected to electric shocks by loyalists of the former President, since mass rival rallies began over a month ago. The organization also claims that eight bodies at the morgue in Cairo also showed signs of torture. At least five of these were discovered near pro-Morsi sit-ins around the capital. In a press release, Amnesty said “Torture or other ill-treatment at the hands of security forces in Egypt has continued under successive governments. Police and security forces continue to torture or otherwise ill-treat detainees with total impunity.”
19:30 GMT: Watch RT's Bel Trew reporting from Cairo:
19:24 GMT: Two soldiers were injured in clashes in Media Production City in Cairo, reports Nile TV.
19:00 GMT: Egyptian police close all the roads leading to Media Production City in the capital, according to Al-Arabiya.
18:51 GMT:
18:44 GMT: "Thousands" of Morsi supporters have been taking to streets in Egypt, according to state media. Rallies set off from 33 mosques across Cairo and Giza under the slogan “Egypt Against the Coup.”
18:00 GMT: There have been reports of tents and barricades going up after police tried to disperse protesters with tear gas at the Media Production City rally in support of the ousted President.
17:56 GMT: A third pro-Morsi camp was established in the eastern Cairo neighborhood of Heliopolis, near the airport, reportedly thousands set up tents and blocked traffic.
17:25 GMT: Thousands of pro-Morsi protesters are rallying at the Raba Adawiya camp in the north of Cairo.
17:10 GMT: Morsi supporters plan to march on Egypt army Headquarters, AFP reports.
