White House condemns Egypt military’s crackdown

The World

The Obama administration on Monday condemned the Egyptian military's violent crackdown over the weekend, but made no change to the flow of United States' aid to the country.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the bloody violence, which killed 80 people in Cairo, is a setback for democracy and goes against the interim government's promise to return to civilian rule of law.

On the topic of US aid to Egypt's military, which remains under review, Earnest said, "I don't have any change in our posture to report to you today."

More from GlobalPost: US urges Egypt to pull "back from the brink" after security forces fire on pro-Morsi sit-in

On Saturday, Egyptian security forces reportedly opened fire on crowds gathered at Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in northeast Cairo before dawn.

The European Union also commented on the violence, calling on Egypt's rulers to step back from an escalating confrontation with deposed President Mohamed Morsi's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

In Egypt, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met with the minister of defense, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, deputy interim President Mohamed ElBaradei and interim Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

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Ashton was also scheduled to meet with members of the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party.

The Muslim Brotherhood vowed to take to the streets again on Monday evening.

"It's very simple, we are not going anywhere," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad told Reuters. "We are going to increase the protest and multiply the sit-ins… Someone has to put sense into this leadership."

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