admin
Cairo — With a military deadline for intervention ticking down, protesters seeking the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president sought yesterday to push the embattled leader further toward the edge with another massive display of people power. Meanwhile, Mohammed Morsi faced fissures from within after a stunning surge of street rage reminiscent of Egypt’s Arab Spring revolution in 2011 that cleared the way for Morsi’s long-suppressed Muslim Brotherhood to win the first open elections in decades.
Three government spokesperson were the latest to quit as part of high-level defections that underscored his increasing isolation and fallout from the ultimatum from Egypt’s powerful armed forces to either find a political solution by today or the generals would seek their own way to end the political chaos.
The Cabinet, led by the Morsi-backed Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, was scheduled to meet yesterday. But the defence and interior ministers were expected to boycott in a sign of support for the military’s warnings.
The police, which are under control of the Interior Ministry, have stood on the sidelines of the protests, refusing even to protect the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood that have been attacked and ransacked. Before the Cabinet session, Morsi met Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and Qandil in the second such meeting in as many days. No details were given about the meeting, reported by an official at the president’s office, Ayman Ali.
At least 16 have been killed in clashes since Sunday between Morsi’s opponents and his many backers, who have equated the demonstrations and military arm-twisting to a coup against a democratically elected president.
The Tamarod, or Rebel, movement which organised the protests gave the president until 17:00 yesterday to step down or face even larger demonstrations and possible “complete civil disobedience.”
In a highly symbolic move, the crowds have camped out at Cairo’s Tahrir quare, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. They also have massed outside the president’s Ittahdiya palace in the leafy suburb of Heliopolis.
Across town, however, Morsi’s backers have hunkered down at their own rally site, vowing to resist any attempts to nullifying his election last year and the rise of Islamist voices in Egypt’s political affairs after bring muzzled under Mubarak.
On Monday, a line of around 1 500 men with shields, helmets and sticks — assigned with protecting the rally — stamped their feet in military-like lines, singing, “Stomp our feet, raise a fire. Islam’s march is coming”.
The volatile atmosphere has been made even more unsettled by the prospect the military could soon step in.
The military’s declaration, read on Monday on state TV, put enormous pressure on Morsi to step down and sent giant crowds opposing the president in Cairo and other cities into delirious celebrations of singing, dancing and fireworks.
But it also raised worries on both sides that the army could take over outright as it did after the 2011 ouster of Mubarak and raised the risk of a backlash from Morsi’s Islamist backers, some of whom once belonged to armed militant groups.
Morsi’s office issued a statement saying a “modern democratic state” was one of the main achievements of the anti-Mubarak uprising, adding, “With all its force, Egypt will not allow itself to be taken backward”. While not bluntly rejecting the ultimatum, it said Morsi was still reviewing the military statement and that some parts of it “could cause disturbances in the complicated national scene”.
At the same time, he is grappling with growing dissent within his inner circle.
A foreign ministry official said career diplomats Omar Amer and Ihab Fahmy have stepped down after nearly five months speaking on behalf of Morsi. On Monday, six Cabinet ministers quit.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
State TV later reported the resignation of Cabinet spokesperson Alaa el-Hadidy.
Also yesterday, an Egyptian court dealt another blow to Morsi’s authority, ruling that the president’s widely disputed appointment of an attorney general last November was illegal.
Morsi’s dismissal of Mahmoud Abdel-Meguid, who was appointed by Mubarak, was seen by the judiciary as an encroachment on its independence. The opposition has long demanded the removal of Abdel-Meguid’s successor, Talaat Abdullah.
President Barack Obama said the US is committed to democracy in Egypt, not any particular leader. Travelling in Tanzania, Obama said that although Morsi was democratically elected, the government must respect its opposition and minority groups. — AP
Online Reporter