(AA) - Former Egyptian Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, who left his post to protest Wednesday's violent dispersal of sit-ins staged by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, departed the Egyptian capital for Vienna on Sunday.
On Wednesday, ElBaradei tendered his resignation hours after security forces moved in to violently disperse two sit-ins staged by Morsi supporters in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square and Giza's Nahda Square. The crackdown left hundreds of demonstrators dead and thousands injured.
"I believe there were peaceful alternatives for ending this social strife and there were acceptable solutions that could have led us to national reconciliation, but things went in the other direction," ElBaradei said in a statement released by his office.
ElBaradei refused to issue any comments or speak to reporters at the airport.
The Health Ministry has said that at least 638 people were killed in Wednesday's violence, including 288 in Rabaa and 87 in Nahda.
However, a pro-Morsi alliance has put the number of deaths from the Rabaa sit-in alone at some 2,600.
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