Gulf States UAE, Bahrain endorse Egypt crackdown on protesters

The UAE Foreign Ministry endorsed the security forces’ crackdown in a statement carried by official news agency WAM late on Wednesday.

“The UAE … re-affirms its understanding of the sovereign measures taken by the Egyptian government after having exercised maximum self-control,” the statement said.

The Persian Gulf state, where dozens of anti-regime activists are incarcerated, criticized what it described as the “insistence of political extremism groups to make speeches of violence and incitement… that led to (Wednesday’s) sad events.”

On Wednesday, Egyptian security forces moved in to clear out thousands of Morsi supporters from two camps – one near the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City and a smaller one in Nahda Square in Giza.

According to Health Ministry, some 525 people were killed in the crackdown and 3,717 others injured, making Wednesday the deadliest day since the African country’s popular uprising in 2011 that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

Bahrain also voiced support for the violent crackdown on Morsi’s supporters, saying the “measures taken by Egyptian authorities to restore peace and stability were to protect the rights of the Egyptian citizen, which the state is obliged to do.”

Bahrain has been the scene of uprising since mid-February 2011. The Al Khalifa regime launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.

The two Persian Gulf states, together with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, had welcomed the ouster of Morsi by the Egyptian army on July 3.

After the ouster of Egypt’s first elected president, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait pledged a total of USD 12 million in aid to help Egypt’s weakening economy.

Egyptian authorities say the interim government forces will stand firm against any more protests.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood party, however, put the death toll far higher, saying more than 2,000 people had died in the police crackdown on Morsi supporters.