Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohammed Morsi clashed with police on Wednesday.
Forty-three policemen and 235 civilians have been confirmed dead by the Egyptian Health Ministry after security forces broke up two protest camps in Cairo and Nasr City occupied by Muslim Brotherhood supporters. On Wednesday morning, police backed backed by military helicopters fired tear gas into the camps as bulldozers broke up barricades set up by the protestors. While the camp in Cairo was emptied quickly, the camp near the Rabbah al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City saw 12 hours of clashes between the two sides.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry and British Prime Minister David Cameron both condemned the violence, and Interim Egyptian Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei resigned his office in protest. In his resignation letter to Interim President Adly Mansour, ElBaradei wrote,
“It has become difficult for me to continue to take responsibility for decisions I disapprove of, and I fear their consequences…I cannot take responsibility before God, my conscience and country for a single drop of blood, especially because I know it was possible to spare it…I regret that those who benefited today are the proponents of violence, terror and the more extreme groups, and you will remember my words to you.
Several wanted leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who had been in hiding at the protest camps were detained on accusations of inciting violence and conspiring to kill opponents of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.
