No more sit-ins will be allowed in Egypt: Interior Ministry

Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim says that supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi will not be allowed to hold any more sit-ins in the country.

Ibrahim made the remark on Wednesday after riot police — backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers and helicopters — broke up two sit-in camps set up by Morsi supporters in Cairo, Reuters reported.

“We will not allow any other sit-in in any square in any place in the country,” Ibrahim said in a televised news conference.

On Wednesday, scores of people were killed when security forces moved in to clear out thousands of pro-Morsi supporters from the two camps — one near the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City and another smaller camp in Nahda Square in Giza.

Ibrahim also promised to restore the kind of security seen in the days of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

“I promise that as soon as conditions stabilize and the Egyptian street stabilizes, as soon as possible, security will be restored to this nation as if it was before January 25, and more,” he said.

Egyptians launched a revolution against the pro-Israeli regime of Mubarak on January 25, 2011, which eventually brought an end to his 30-year dictatorship on February 11, 2011.

Egypt’s security officials and state television said on Wednesday that police arrested senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders Mohamed el-Beltagy, Essam el-Erian, group spokesman Ahmed Aref and its chief theologian Abdel-Rahman el-Bar.

The interior minister, however, said el-Beltagy and el-Erian had not been arrested.

El-Beltagy, whose 17-year-old daughter has reportedly been killed in the clashes, called on the police and army troops to mutiny against their commanders and on Egyptians to take to the streets to show their disapproval of the raids.

“Oh, Egyptian people, your brothers are in the square… Are you going to remain silent until the genocide is completed?” el-Beltagy said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Egypt’s Health Ministry said 235 civilians were killed and more than 2,000 injured across Egypt on Wednesday.

The Interior Ministry said that 43 policemen were also killed in the violence.

The Muslim Brotherhood, however, put the death toll far higher, saying more than 2,000 people were killed in the police crackdown on Morsi supporters.

Meanwhile, the interim Egyptian government imposed a month-long state of emergency as unrest sweeps across the Arab nation.

A curfew was also imposed in Cairo, Alexandria and several provinces between 19:00 local time (1700 GMT) and 06:00 (0400 GMT).

The measure was taken because the “security and order of the nation face danger due to deliberate sabotage, and attacks on public and private buildings and the loss of life by extremist groups,” the office of Egypt’s president said in a statement.

Rights activists said the move would give legal cover for the army to make arrests.

Tension has intensified in Egypt since July 3 when the Egyptian army removed Morsi from office. The army also suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament.