Armed and dangerous Sir— Some are choosing to ignore the indisputable fact that there were many armed terrorists in these sit-ins who opened fire once the police forces approached them. Hundreds of videos documenting this by different news channels can be easily looked up. They also choose to not report the casualties of the police and brutal acts following the dispersal of the sit-ins (church burning, torching police and non-police cars, torching police stations, pushing police vehicles with passengers inside over a bridge… etc). This is just the tip of the iceberg. The leaders and organisers of the camps vowed days ago to sacrifice thousands of “martyrs” to stand in the face of the police and maintain the sit-ins no matter what happened. They promised that terrorism in Sinai would not stop until Morsi is restored to power. They kidnapped and tortured people standing and passing by the sit-ins for showing their support for the June Revolution. This included even a child who got his finger cut off by their members for holding an Al-Sisi banner. Another one is a police officer who was tortured and interrogated by an MB leader who later stated in the media that it was an honour to detain a police officer. Not to mention all the hate speech towards non-MB supporters and Christians. If a fraction of the violations that took place in these sit-ins happened in any Western country, it would have been cracked down upon by police from Day One. Sherif Hassan Cairo Egypt
Warnings given Sir— It's a shame that some innocent people may have been caught in the crossfire. However, the pro-Morsi crowd refused to stop causing civil unrest until unreal demands were met: putting Morsi back in power against the will of the majority. Isn't “majority rule” the basic foundation of democracy? The MB and conservative Islamists don't want democracy. They're trying to impose their will. The army had to meet violence with violence. I rarely stick up for a military movement on civilians, but these so-called demonstrators were asked to stop, then told to stop, but they remained overtly defiant. The Morsi loyal opposition was told a month ago to disperse, as they've been inciting the majority of the violence. The warnings were repeated, their deadline to vacate was put off and warnings were reissued, so the police and security moved forward. What should the state/military have done? Let the unrest continue? Let innocent people continue to be attacked and killed by MB supporters? Richard Geyser Maryland USA
Right to dance Sir— Anyone calling this a coup, in a bad way, first doesn't fully understand what the term means and second, is completely disregarding the millions of people who want to one day live in a fair and secular democratic country where ballet isn't outlawed, where they are free to worship, where journalists and comedians aren't jailed for insulting the president. Condemning Egypt's army is ultimately condemning the majority of the people. I accept the Muslim Brotherhood won the election fair and square and if they had taken a moderate line they would still be in control, but no, they had to push for Islamisation of everything. They are unable to compromise and don't deserve to rule. From some perspectives, including my own, the people's majority demanded that the government, the one that lied to them and was as bad as the previously ousted administration, step down. The military backed the people, as they were supposed to. Mahmoud Aboul Nasr Cairo Egypt
