Killings Follow Arab-Israeli War Anniversary

Sunday the 6th of October marked the 40th anniversary of the Arab-Israeli war. Supporters of deposed President Morsi were confronted by the police as they tried to converge in Cairo's Tahrir for the celebrations. A spokesman for the health ministry reported 46 deaths in Cairo, five more further south of the capital and a total of 268 casualties across Egypt. Al-Azhar University student, Mostafa Ramadan, a casualty of Sunday's conflict claims to have been walking peacefully in the march from Mohandesseen when he was hit in the head by a rock and his hand struck with birdshot. Ramadan told an Al-Jazeera reporter,  "We kept saying we are peaceful, but they cursed us and started firing tear-gas bombs on us and live ammunition." Furthermore, it has been reported that Sundays death toll was the highest since August when over 1000 people were killed. According to an Interior Ministry Statement, police are said to have arrested 423 protesters in Cairo, on account of firing rounds of bird shot and vandalizing the capital. Although Tahrir Square had previously been a place of gathering, in February 2011 in order to force President Hosni Mubarak to step down and again in July 2013 to depose President Morsi, the entrance to the square was blocked off to the thousands of supporters that arrived on Sunday waving Egyptian flags. 

Ironically, the highest death toll since August, seen in Egypt., came about as a result of the Arab-Israeli War anniversary celebrations.  Similar to the riddle in the cartoon above, what started out as a march, ended not as a march but as a massacre. Just as the Sphinx asks, "Who cares?," one must wonder, does Egypt's governing powers care?  


References
Al Jazeera. (2013). Scores killed as egypt marks war anniversary.
Retrieved 10/25, 2013, from  
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/egypt-warns-against-anniversary-protests-
201310654657557552.html

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