World View: Egypt in Crisis After Two Days of Violent Clashes

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Egypt court sentences 21 people to death over riot last year
• At least 40 people killed in nationwide clashes in Egypt
• Nine protesters killed on 2nd anniversary of Egyptian Revolution
• Egypt’s government in a state of crisis
• Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez still has difficulty breathing, but runs the government from Cuba

Egypt court sentences 21 people to death over riot last year

People carry body of protester killed on Friday (Reuters)

An Egyptian court sentenced 21 people to death on Saturday forparticipating in a riot in Port Said on February 2 of last year, where74 young people were killed, and over 1,000 injured at a football(soccer) match. ( “3-Feb-12 World View — Suspicions grow of planned massacre at soccer game in Egypt”) There were plenty of riot police present at the game,but video shows that they allowed the violence to continue withoutinterference, and they may even have aided the violence by blockingthe escape route of the victims. The attackers were mostly fans ofthe home team, the al-Masry football club, while the victims were fansof the visiting team, Cairo’s Al-Ahly football club, a group that hadactively taken part in the Tahrir Square protests during 2011, and thesuspicion is widespread that police were responsible for the violence,in order to get revenge against the Al-Ahly team. The violenceinfuriated the people of Cairo, who blamed the deaths on the police.AFP

At least 40 people killed in nationwide clashes in Egypt

On Saturday, 30 more protesters were killed by police in violentrioting in Port Said by Egyptians infuriated by the verdict. Most ofthose sentenced to death were supporters of the al-Masry team, and sothey lived in the Port Said area. Egyptians from the region wereinfuriated not only because of the harsh death sentences, but alsobecause no one from the Egypt’s police was held to account for thedeaths. Al-Ahram (Cairo)

Nine protesters killed on 2nd anniversary of Egyptian Revolution

The killings on Saturday followed nine killings by police duringprotests in Suez on Friday commemorating the two-year anniversary ofthe beginning of the Egyptian Revolution that deposed Hosni Mubarak.Forensic examination on Saturday of the victims shows that theywere shot by live ammunition at close range, sometimes from behind.Al-Ahram (Cairo)

Egypt’s government in a state of crisis

With almost 40 people killed in two days, Egypt’s president MohamedMorsi was forced to cancel a scheduled trip to Ethiopia and meet withtop generals to discuss the violence. When Morsi was first elected inJune, in the first free and fair presidential elections in Egypt’shistory, he originally had a high approval rating. Then, in November,he was given credit for arranging a cease-fire in the brief warbetween Israel and Hamas in Gaza. But he lost it all two days later,when he “appointed himself Pharaoh of Egypt” by issuing a decreegranting himself dictatorial powers not subject to review by thecourts or appeal. He used these powers to enable Egypt’s newconstitution to be written entirely by Muslim Brotherhood Islamistsand al-Nour Salafists. Tensions have been growing between the youngliberals and secularists who launched the revolution two years agoversus the Islamist conservatives who are now in almost completecontrol of the government. The new violence in Port Said may be asign that the fault lines in this conflict may even have geographicalovertones, pitting big cities like Cairo versus rural areas. The National (UAE)

I’ve pointed this out several times in the past, but it’s worthpointing out again: What’s developing in Egypt is not Egypt versusIsrael, nor Muslim Brotherhood versus Israel. Except for someisolated incidents, there have been no protesters screaming “Death toIsrael!” or “Death to America!” as happens in Ramallah and Gaza City.

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez still has difficulty breathing, but runs the government from Cuba

Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez, still in Cuba for cancer treatment,is having difficulty breathing, according to government officials whohave just returned to Caracas from Havana. Vice-President NicolásMaduro says that “Chávez is clinging to life,” but added that he isVenezuela’s government from Havana, that he’s signed a number ofdecisions related to Venezuela’s gold reserves, and that Chávez askedhim to “send a message of encouragement to private entrepreneurs.”El Universal (Caracas) and El Universal (Caracas)

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