Egypt interim president orders investigation into deadly clashes

Iran Press TV

Mon Jul 8, 2013 1:54PM GMT

Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour, has set up a judicial commission of inquiry after more than 40 supporters of Egyptian ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, were killed in the capital, Cairo.

The Muslim Brotherhood said its supporters were “massacred” after police and troops opened fire on them outside an elite army headquarters in Cairo.

In the deadly violence in front of the headquarters of the Republican Guard, at least 42 people were killed and more than 300 others injured.

“Morsi supporters were praying while the police and army fired live rounds and tear gas at them,” the Brotherhood said.

The military, however, said it had confronted a group of armed men who tried to enter the building, a claim which the Brotherhood’s leaders have rejected.

“The president of the republic forms a judicial commission to investigate the events at the Republican Guard” headquarters, state television reported on Monday.

Following the clashes, in a Monday statement the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), appealed for “an uprising by the great people of Egypt against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks.”

Leading opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, also condemned the Cairo killings, saying, “Violence begets violence and should be strongly condemned. Independent investigation is a must. Peaceful transition is only way.”

In addition, Egypt’s Nour Party said it would no longer participate in talks over the new government in response to the “massacre” of protesters in the capital.

“We have decided to withdraw immediately from all negotiations in response to the massacre outside the Republican Guard” headquarters, the Salafist party’s spokesman Nadder Bakkar said Monday.

The party has also suggested a referendum to determine the fate of Morsi’s presidency.

Meanwhile, presidency spokesman, Ahmed Elmoslmany, said on Monday that violent clashes in Cairo would not disrupt efforts to form an interim government.

“What happened will not stop steps to form a government or a road map,” he noted.

On July 3, Egypt’s army commander General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Morsi, who had taken office in June 2012, and suspended the country's constitution.

MR/SS