EGYPT (2)

A month ago, I said that there would probably be more clashes between the pro- and anti-factions of ousted President Muhammed Morsi, and that they would be bloody. That prediction has now come to pass.

On Wednesday the new military Government decided to "clear" the protest camps set up by pro-Morsi supporters. Official figures put the number of deaths from the operation at 638, unofficial figures much higher. Neither include the many injured. On Friday, a further 173 died in a protest action against what had happened on Wednesday. And today, 36 prisoners suffocated to death from the effects of tear gas, while they were being transfered from one prison to another

Once a cycle of protest and violence has established itself, it is very difficult to stop it escalating. With the two camps having roughly equal backing amongst the general population, Egypt looks as if it is sliding inexorably into civil war. Not good.

Walter Blotscher