Thais safe, says ministry; Egypt death toll tops 460
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Surapong says no need for evacuation as Thais not living near site of protests
At least 464 people have been killed across Egypt in violence sparked by Wednesday’s crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, government officials said yesterday.
A number of Thai students in Cairo sought to return home, but there was no need for an evacuation of Thai expatriates in the country, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said. He added that most Thais do not live in areas where clashes occurred between protesters and police.
The foreign minister said the Thai Embassy in Cairo would assess the situation daily to determine whether Thais living in Egypt should be evacuated.
All Thais living in Egypt are currently safe, according to Manasvi Srisodapol, Department of Information director-general, who serves as a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.
He said the ministry was concerned about the situation in Egypt and hoped that peace would soon be restored through a dialogue involving all the concerned parties.
The Thai Embassy has advised Thai nationals to avoid nine locations considered to be unsafe: Autostrad Rd in Cairo; Bahr Aazam in Giza; El Gamaa Bridge in Giza; and the 6th October Bridge, 15th May Bridge, Kasr el Nile Bridge, Salah Salem Rd, Marghani Rd and 7 Omarat Square in Heliopolis.
At least 421 civilians died in Wednesday’s violence, Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Fathallah said. He said 137 people had been killed in the main Rabaa al-Adawiya camp, which pro-Morsi protesters had occupied for weeks.
At the smaller of the two encampments in Nahda square, 57 people were killed, while 227 died in the rest of the country, he said. The Interior Ministry said 43 policemen had also been killed.
The number of injured in the previous day’s violence has also risen to 3,572, according to another Health Ministry spokesman, Khaled el-Khateeb.
Wednesday’s violence began when police moved to clear two sit-in camps in Cairo by supporters of Mohammed Morsi, ousted in a military coup on July 3. The clashes there later spread to elsewhere in Cairo and a string of other cities.
The violence prompted the government to declare a nationwide, month-long state of emergency.
The worst violence since Egypt’s 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak has deepened the conflict between the country’s two main camps, led by the army and the Brotherhood.
The police attack on Islamists followed failed efforts to mediate the stand-off by diplomats from the US and European Union, which both condemned the killings.
Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi and Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim defended the crackdown in a televised addresses, saying all other options to save Egypt from mayhem had been exhausted. “It was necessary to take a firm stand,” El-Beblawi said. “When things spiral out of control, that’s unacceptable.”
