Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate emerging as Egypt’s paramount opposition leader, told the Al Jazeera news agency that he feared Wednesday’s violent confrontation in Cairo could escalate into a “bloodbath.”
“I’m extremely concerned, I mean this is yet another symptom, or another indication, of a criminal regime using criminal acts,” ElBaradei, former head of the U.N. nuclear agency, said of the provocative charging of demonstrators by loyalists of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “My fear is that it will turn into a bloodbath.”
ElBaradei said Mubarak’s regime “does not want to listen to the people, does not want to understand that they need to go,” adding that the president’s insistence on staying in office through fall elections only strengthens the resolve of Egyptians that he must resign “immediately, before the country goes down the drain.”
Full Story: EGYPT: Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei says he fears coming ‘bloodbath’ | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times.