Qatar 'Strongly Denounces' Force against Egypt Demos, Hamas Condemns the 'Terrible Massacre'
Qatar, a main backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, strongly condemned a bloody crackdown in Cairo on Wednesday by security forces against supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.
"Qatar strongly denounces the means by which peaceful protesters in Rabaa al-Adawiya camp and Al-Nahda square have been dealt with and which led to the killing of several unarmed innocent people among them," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement published on the official QNA agency.
It urged the Egyptian authorities to end the use of force and "preserve the lives of protesters" and the "peaceful nature" of the protests.
Qatar warned against "tearing apart the ranks of the brotherly Egyptian people as it is difficult to account for the results of these clashes and their future outcomes".
The gas-rich Gulf state was a major financial supporter of Egypt under the presidency of the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi, who the army toppled on July 3.
It called for "dialogue between all parties to achieve political and social plurality, in which no party could be excluded.
"The calls for dialogue could have been fruitful had they been followed by positive signs to prove their seriousness such as the release of political detainees and ending the crackdown."
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza also condemned the bloody crackdown on protesters as a "terrible massacre."
"Hamas condemns the terrible massacre in Nahda square and at Rabaa al-Adawiyya, and we call for an end to the bloodshed and to excesses against peaceful demonstrators," its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.
Scores of people were killed as police moved in to disperse the two huge protest camps set up in Cairo by supporters of Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood movement is close to Hamas.
Egypt's health ministry said in an updated toll that 149 people were killed in clashes in the capital and across the country.
The deputy head of the Hamas government, Ziad al-Zaza, told Gaza's Al-Rai news agency that "the government expresses its great concern over the events taking place in Egypt."
Source: Agence France Presse
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