Global rights group Amnesty International has challenged security forces in Egypt to do more to protect protesters from violent attack and avoid the use of excessive force against peaceful gatherings. Amnesty International threw the challenge in a statement it issued ahead of Friday’s major rival political rallies. “Security forces have repeatedly failed to protect protesters, bystanders and residents from attacks by armed assailants. They have also failed to intervene effectively to end violent clashes between rival groups,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, said in the statement, obtained by PANA here Friday. More than 180 people have been killed in violent clashes or other political violence since 30 June, when mass demonstrations were held calling for the fall of former President Mohamed Morsi. Since then political violence has escalated between supporters and opponents of the deposed President, leading to an increasing loss of life. “Continued failure to properly police rival street protests will lead to further bloodshed and an escalation of human rights abuses,” said Sahraoui. A call by Egypt’s Defence Minister, Gen. Abdel Fatah Sisi, for mass street protests on Friday to grant the army a mandate to quell “terrorism and violence” has raised fears of further bloodshed in the coming days. The call was backed by the Tamarud campaign which coordinated the protests that led to Morsi’s removal. Supporters of the deposed president will hold a rival rally on the same day. The general’s call raises concerns that the security forces may be preparing to use force to end sit-ins and demonstrations by Morsi’s supporters. On 8 July, at least 51 pro-Morsi protesters were killed in the vicinity of the Republican Guard Club in Cairo as a result of excessive and disproportionate lethal force by security forces.
Jul272013