United Nations: The UN Security Council Thursday called on all parties in Egypt to "exercise maximum restraint" and put an end to violence after over 500 people were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters seeking deposed president Mohamed Morsi's reinstatement.
"The view of council members is that it is important to end violence in Egypt, that the parties exercise maximum restraint," said Maria Cristina Perceval, the Argentine permanent representative to the United Nations who holds the rotating council presidency for August, Xinhua reported.
Perceval made the remarks after emerging from a closed-door council meeting on the current situation in Egypt.
The meeting, held at a joint request from council members France, Britain and Australia Thursday evening, was briefed by UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson.
Eliasson told reporters that "the position of the UN has been well expressed in the secretary-general's statement of yesterday (Wednesday). And I was building my briefing on that".
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is on a visit to the Middle East, has strongly condemned the violence arising from the operations, and called upon all parties in Egypt to reconsider their actions in light of the new political realities in order to save the country from further disaster.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday urged the UN Security Council to convene quickly on Egypt.
The Egyptian security forces Wednesday cleared two sit-in camps in the Egyptian capital Cairo which were occupied by supporters of Morsi demanding his return to power, resulting in deadly clashes, with at least 525 deaths and 3,717 injuries reported by the Egyptian health ministry.
Hours after the raids on the camps, Egypt's interim government declared a state of emergency nationwide for one month, imposing a curfew on Cairo and 10 provinces and allowing security forces to arrest and detain civilians indefinitely without charges.
Morsi was ousted by popular-backed military procedures in early July and he has been detained ever since.
