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UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, on Thursday appealed to all sides in Egypt to step back from the brink of disaster after a day of bloody violence that left hundreds dead or injured.
Pillay urged the Egyptian authorities and security forces to act with the utmost restraint, calling for an independent, impartial, effective and credible investigation of the conduct of the security forces, Eduardo del Buey, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.
Egyptian security forces on Wednesday clashed with demonstrators demanding the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Morsy, who was ousted by popular-backed military procedures in early July and he has been detained ever since.
On Wednesday, the Egyptian security forces dispersed two major sit-ins of Morsi's loyalists in Cairo and Giza. The dispersal operation and relevant clashes left at least 525 killed and about 3,717 injured nationwide, according to the Egyptian Health Ministry's statement on Thursday.
Due to the turmoil, Egypt announced Wednesday a state of emergency for one month and imposed a curfew in several governorates, including Cairo, Giza and Alexandria.
Pillay noted that there were conflicting reports about the scale of the violence as Egyptian government officials said more than 500 had been killed while the Muslim Brotherhood put the figure at more than 2,000.
She also said reports of attacks on public buildings and religious sites by opponents of the government are also extremely worrying and those responsible for such criminal acts should be brought to justice.
