Death toll in Egypt bloodbath passes 200 people

PanARMENIAN.Net - Crushed, dazed and chanting "Down, down with military rule!" hundreds of supporters of Egypt's ousted president streamed out of a protest camp that had come to symbolize the resistance of Arab Spring Islamists, news.com.au reported.

It now resembled a war zone - covered in debris, with thick black smoke billowing skyward.

Sitting helplessly on the ground, exhausted by hours of inhaling tear gas, they pondered their next move as Egypt's bloodiest day in years came to an end.

At one point, protesters trapped a police Humvee on an overpass near the Nasr City camp and pushed it off, according to images posted on social networking sites that showed an injured policeman on the ground below, near a pool of blood and the overturned vehicle.

The van plunged off the 6th October Bridge before demonstrators attacked the wreckage. It is not known how many people were on board and how many people survived the fall.

For more than 12 hours, security forces in black-clad body armor and helmets, backed by snipers, military helicopters and armored vehicles, used bulldozers to sweep away the encampment occupied by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. The crackdown set off running street battles in Cairo and other Egyptian cities that left nearly 300 people dead nationwide. Army troops did not take part in the two operations.

The crackdown drew widespread condemnation from the Muslim world and the West, including the US, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei resigned as the interim vice president in protest - a blow to the new leadership's credibility with the pro-reform movement.

The health ministry said 235 civilians were killed in the Cairo crackdown and in subsequent clashes across Egypt. The interior ministry added 43 security personnel had lost their lives.