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THE Muslim Brotherhood party has rejected the transition timetable set out by the military-backed interim president. Essam el-Erian, a senior Brotherhood figure and deputy head of its Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, rejected the transition timetable yesterday, saying it takes the country “back to zero”.
“The cowards are not sleeping, but Egypt will not surrender. The people created their constitution with their votes,” el-Eiran wrote on his Facebook page, referring to the constitution that Islamists pushed to finalisation and then was passed in a national referendum during former President Mohamed Morsi’s year in office.
Egypt’s interim administration published a timetable for a transition to a new democratic government hours after the army shot dead scores of people outside the elite Republican Guards’ headquarters in Cairo.
Interim president Adly Mansour yesterday morning released details of a timetable for parliamentary elections by 2014, after which a date will be announced for a presidential ballot.
The country will have five months to amend the current draft constitution, suspended following Morsi’s removal last week, ratify it in a referendum, and then hold parliamentary elections, according to the text of the 33-article decree published online.
The process will take no more than 210 days, according to the decree, meaning elections will be by February at the latest.
Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Cairo, said that some liberal opposition parties have said that instead of the constitution being amended a new one should be made.
She added that Cairo has been quiet, with a few rallies and protests at Nasr City but not in large numbers. Our correspondent said that more pro-Morsi protesters are expected to turn out later.
The Brotherhood called for nationwide protests to take place a day after a deadly shooting at the site of a sit-in by its supporters in Cairo left at least 51 dead and hundreds injured.
The military blamed “terrorists”, while witnesses, including Brotherhood supporters at the scene, said security forces fired only warning shots and tear gas, and that “thugs” in civilian clothes carried out the shootings.
The US called on the Egyptian army to exercise “maximum restraint”, while also condemning “explicit” Brotherhood calls to violence.
The Muslim Brotherhood has asked the “international community to stop the “massacres” in the aftermath of last week’s ousting of Morsi by the military.
The Freedom and Justice Party on Monday demanded “an uprising by the great people of Egypt against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks”.
On Monday, Egypt closed down the Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, saying weapons were found inside it.
The latest violence further raised political tensions, even as the country’s interim leadership struggled to find a consensus on who should be the prime minister.
The Salafist Nour Party announced it was suspending its participation from talks over new government in protest against Monday’s fatal shootings. — Al Jazeera
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