Wave of protests grips Egypt

More clashes were feared after bloody con­frontations on Wednesday between pro-and anti-Morsi protesters that left seven people dead and more than 600 injured.
Funerals for several of those killed — said to be partisans of Morsi’s Muslim Brother­hood — were to be held yesterday.
The scene early yesterday in front of the presidential palace — the focus of demon­strations this week — was calm, but heavily militarised.

Around a dozen tanks and armoured troops carriers were deployed in the vicinity, with soldiers and riot police massed behind barbed wire barricades. On Thursday, they had cleared the area.
Only a handful of demonstrators were seen there early yesterday, but their number was expected to quickly grow as in previous days. In Tahrir square, the other rallying point for protests, demonstrators manned their own barricades.

An offer Mursi made in a broadcast speech overnight to hold talks today with the oppo­sition was rejected by the largely secular coalition ranged against him, which is demanding he rescind sweeping new powers decreed last month that set him above the law. It said it would instead step up its cam­paign against Mursi’s decree, and the referen­dum set for December 15.
The opposition coalition, the National Sal­vation Front, issued a statement saying “the fact that the presidency . . . persists in ignor­ing the demands and protests of the people has closed the door on any attempt for dia­logue.”

It said it “renews its call for Egyptians to gather across Egypt on Friday (yesterday).”
The group’s spokesman, Hussein Abdel Ghani, said “we will continue to escalate (protests), using peaceful means.”

Protests were expected to swell after the weekly Muslim prayers yesterday.
A youth opposition group in the coalition, April 6, called for marches from all of Cairo’s mosques to converge on the main squares.
The demonstrations seen this week were the biggest since Morsi’s election in June. The street clashes were also reminiscent of the upheaval in February 2011 that toppled for­mer president Hosni Mubarak.

In his speech late Thursday, Mursi said the referendum on the constitution would go ahead as planned, adding that “afterwards . . .  everyone must follow its will.”
He said: “We respect peaceful freedom of speech, but I will never allow anyone to resort to killing and sabotage.”
Hundreds of opposition protesters tried to storm the Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood as he made his speech, but were pushed back by riot police firing tear gas.

At least four of Mursi’s advisers have quit over the crisis and the Cairo stock market has taken a heavy hit from the latest violence. There was no share trading yesterday, the Muslim day of rest.
The United States and European Union have called for dialogue to resolve the politi­cal crisis in Egypt.

US president Barack Obama expressed “deep concern” on Thursday over the events in Egypt, in a call to Mursi, the White House said. Obama also told Mursi that it was “essen­tial for Egyptian leaders across the political spectrum to put aside their differ­ences and come together to agree on a path that will move Egypt forward,” the White House said in a statement.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay yester­day criticised Egypt’s draft constitution and expressed sympathy for those protesting the way it had been drawn up.
“I believe people are right to be very con­cerned,” Pillay said yesterday, pointing to “the way the process has been short-cir­cuited,” as well as “some of the elements included in, or missing from, the draft text.”
While Pillay welcomed Mursi’s call late Thursday for dialogue, she lamented that “no significant progress on the core issues relat­ing to the constitution” had been made. — AFP.