Columns of Egyptian soldiers after the defense forces seized power from the Muslim Brotherhood government on July 3, 2013. The country is poised for further unrest., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Brotherhood criticises US stance towards new Egypt rulers
Ahram Online, Tuesday 16 Jul 2013
Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson Gehad El-Haddad criticises visit to Egypt by US deputy secretary of state, says US supporting 'coup'
A spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood has criticised the visit to Egypt of US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.
On Monday, Burns met army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, whom the Brotherhood accuses of leading a coup against ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Morsi was deposed by the military on 3 July after millions of protesters took to the street calling for his removal and early presidential elections.
Brotherhood spokesperson Gehad El-Haddad said the US had failed to "stand up for principles" as they had done with ousted president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The US had granted the "coup" against Egypt's "first democratically elected president" the "legitimacy of recognition and continued military aide," El-Haddad said via Twitter.
There has been a debate in Washington over whether to cut the annual $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt because US law obligates the government to cut aid if a coup overthrows an elected leader. So far, the US has avoided calling Morsi's removal a coup.
Burns said the US administration was keen to ensure a peaceful democratic transition in Egypt through elections and dialogue between rival political factions.
El-Haddad responded by saying that "talk of inclusion and tolerance falls on deaf ears as arbitrary arrests [by the army] and the murder of peaceful protesters continues."
Morsi supporters have been camped out at protest sites in Cairo and Giza since his ouster. The army killed over 50 Morsi supporters at the Republican Guard headquarters on 8 July.
"Either the US is complicit in planning/executing the military coup or have come to welcome it," El-Haddad added.
"Does Burns really believe anyone in Egypt trusts him? No one trusts Mr Obama and Mr Burns," leading Brotherhood figure Essam El-Erian told CNN.
"Parliament was dissolved, the constitution has been suspended and the elected president was deposed, how are we to trust Burns," El-Erian asked, saying the Brotherhood would continue to protest.
After Morsi's deposition, the army suspended the constitution and dissolved the Islamist-dominated Shura Council (upper house of parliament).
It also announced a roadmap that was jointly drawn up with the opposition. It includes making amendments to the current constitution – a key opposition demand – and presidential and parliamentary elections.
A new cabinet is being formed by liberal economist Hazem El-Beblawi who was appointed prime minister by interim president Adly Mansour.
The Brotherhood and Morsi supporters are demanding that Morsi and the Shura Council be reinstated and the constitution restored before they engage in talks.
The Brotherhood – many of whose members have been arrested – has refused to join dialogue talks called for by the presidency.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/76592.aspx
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood reject new cabinet, call for more demos
Ahram Online , Tuesday 16 Jul 2013
Muslim Brotherhood slam new government as illegitimate, call for Wednesday protests
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, Ahmed Aref, denounced the recently-formed interim cabinet on Tuesday, describing it as the product of an illegitimate regime.
“The Muslim Brotherhood refuses to take part in this cabinet. It came about via military tanks,” Aref told Ahram’s Arabic news website adding, that the group’s stance is shared by the pro-Brotherhood National Alliance to Support Legitimacy.
Thirty-four new ministers were sworn in Tuesday afternoon in the first cabinet after the military-led ouster of the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi. The cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi, did not include any Islamist ministers, in contrast to previous cabinets appointed by Morsi.
El-Beblawi, who was appointed by interim President Adly Mansour, had reportedly offered members of the Muslim Brotherhood ministerial positions in the new government, which they rejected on the grounds that the entire cabinet is the illegitimate product of a military coup.
Aref further added that his group has stopped proposing initiatives for solving “the crisis” because “Egypt is not living a political crisis but rather a coup d’état and an insertion of the armed forces into political life.”
Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El-Erian for his part accused the new government of “usurping authority” and of being subordinate to the military.
Morsi’s supporters at Rabaa Al-AdawiyaSquare in northern Cairo are determined to continue protesting until his reinstatement despite the swearing in of the new cabinet on Tuesday, according to state news agency MENA.
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy called on supporters of Morsi to take down the streets on Wednesday on what they called the “day of determination” to press for the former Islamist president’s release.
Pro-Morsi protesters have been staging sit-ins and demonstrations around Cairo over the past week calling for his reinstatement.
On Monday, seven people were killed and 261 injured in overnight clashes between the police and pro-Morsi demonstrators in downtown Cairo and Giza.
The violence reportedly broke out late on Monday after police forces fired teargas at Morsi supporters who had blocked the 6 October Bridge and Ramsis Street in downtown Cairo.
On Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement in response to the clashes, accusing the police of returning to its brutal practices prior to the January 25 revolution. The statement further warned of a possible return to the “dictatorship police state” after the “bloody coup d’etat.”
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/76655.aspx
Black Bloc threatens pro-Morsi protesters
Ahram Online, Tuesday 16 Jul 2013
Anti-Brotherhood group says it will take action against pro-Morsi sit-ins if they are not dispersed by end of Ramadan
Black Bloc has given security forces until Eid El-Fitr – the last day of Ramadan on 8 August – to disperse pro-Morsi sit-ins or it will take matters into its own hands.
Black Bloc is an anarchist-inspired group of masked protesters that often engages in violent street protests. It is not one unified organisation; rather several groups have adopted its name and tactics.
"The blood of our brothers is precious, regardless of whether they are police, army or civilians," it said.
Supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi have been staging sit-ins in Cairo and Giza calling for his reinstatement after he was removed by the army on 3 July amid mass protests against his rule. They have also conducted marches on a daily basis, obstructing traffic on major routes in the capital.
Seven people were killed and 261 injured on 15 July when pro-Morsi protesters clashed with police in Cairo's Ramsis Square and Giza.
On 8 July, 51 people were killed in clashes between pro-Morsi protesters and the army at the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/76582.aspx
7 killed, 261 injured in overnight clashes in Cairo
Ahram Online, Tuesday 16 Jul 2013
Egypt's health ministry says 137 injured have left the hospital, 124 still receiving medical care; calm restored in Ramsis and open to traffic
Seven people have been killed and 261 injured in overnight clashes between the police and supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi in downtown Cairo and Giza, according to Egypt's health ministry.
Khaled El-Khatib, head of the central administration for critical and urgent care at the health ministry, said that two people were killed in Ramsis, downtown Cairo; four in the vicinity of Cairo University in Giza; and one in Al-Bahr Al-Azam area, also in Giza.
According to El-Khatib, 137 of the injured have left the hospital, while 124 are still receiving medical care.
Meanwhile, calm has been restored in Ramsis square and it has opened to traffic Tuesday morning after the overnight clashes, state news agency MENA reported.
However, tens of Morsi proponents have taken the nearby Fateh Mosque as shelter, refusing to leave as they expect they will be attacked.
Residents reportedly formed a human chain around the mosque to prevent any potential attackers from entering it.
Pro-Morsi protesters have been staging sit-ins and demonstrations around Cairo in the past week calling for his reinstatement. On 3 July, the army deposed Morsi one year after his inauguration as president amid mass nationwide protests against him.
Clashes erupted on Monday night and continued through the early hours of Tuesday in several major areas around Cairo, bringing traffic to a halt on many vital routes of the city.
Violence first broke out late on Monday after police forces fired teargas at pro-Morsi protesters to clear the Six of October Bridge above downtown's Ramsis street, both of which were blocked by the demonstrations and turmoil.
Ahram Online's reporter says the police have also used birdshot against protesters, and that a number of downtown residents and opponents of the Brotherhood joined the police against the pro-Morsi supporters.
Morsi's supporters mainly hurled stones at the police after the latter fired teargas canisters. The same reporter says at least two police personnel were injured by birdshot.
Street battles also erupted in the Ghamra neighborhood near Ramsis between residents and Brotherhood supporters, with both sides reportedly using birdshot against the other.
In addition, firefights also broke out between pro-Morsi protesters and unknown assailants near Giza Square in greater Cairo, state news agency MENA reported.
Concurrent with the clashes, Morsi supporters took to the streets in several marches.
Around 2,000 marched to the Republican Guard headquarters in Nasr City, where over 50 Morsi supporters were killed after clashing with military forces on 8 July. Security forces intensified its presence around the premises.
Meanwhile, the protesters, led by the Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hails, continue their sit-in at Rabaa El-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City for the 19th day.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/76577.aspx
Egypt presidency preparing for reconciliation talks, Brotherhood remains defiant
Ahram Online, Tuesday 16 Jul 2013
Advisor to Egypt's interim leader says date of reconciliation talks to be announced soon; Muslim Brotherhood says no negotiations until Mohamed Morsi returned to power
The Egyptian presidency is preparing for national reconciliation talks, the date of which will be announced soon, an advisor to interim leader Adly Mansour has said.
"National reconciliation will require sincere intentions and clear goals [from all parties], or else reconciliation efforts will be useless," Ahmed El-Meslemani asserted in a press statement on Monday evening.
The popularly backed military overthrow of Mohamed Morsi – who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood – and its roadmap for a transitional period were supported by liberal and leftist groups as well as the ultraconservative Salafist Nour party, whose criticism of Morsi had been increasing over recent months.
The roadmap included appointing High Constitutional Court head Adly Mansour as interim president for a transitional period of at least six months, during which the 2012 constitution would be amended, followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies have strongly rejected the "blatant military coup d'état against the president's democratic legitimacy." Thousands of Morsi supporters remain at a sit-in in Cairo's Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square demanding his reinstatement.
"What [national] reconciliation are they speaking about? They are reconciling with the Mubarak regime symbols, not the Egyptian people," Mohamed El-Beltagy, deputy head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, said in a speech at Rabaa Al-Adawiya on Monday night.
"There is no room for negotiation until our legitimate president Morsi is reinstated," he asserted.
A number of deadly clashes have taken place since Morsi's removal on 3 July between his supporters and state forces, leaving at least 51 dead.
Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president in June 2012 after narrowly beating Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in a runoff.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/76556.aspx
Egyptian army camp attacked with rockets in Sinai
Reuters, Wednesday 17 Jul 2013
Assailants using mobile anti-aircraft rockets and machineguns attacked an Egyptian army camp in the restive Sinai peninsula near the border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding two officers, witnesses and security sources said.
Loud explosions and gunfire could be heard at the camp near Rafah, the Egyptian town on the Gaza border, the sources said.
Two officers were wounded, the sources said. There was no immediate word on the identity of the gunmen.
Hardline Islamist groups based in North Sinai, a lawless region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip, have intensified attacks on police and soldiers over the past two years, exploiting a security vacuum following the 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
The violence has spiked again since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi this month. Militants have attacked security checkpoints and other targets on an almost daily basis, killing at least 13 people.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/76657.aspx
Brotherhood party office torched in Daqahliya, two injured
Ahram Online, Wednesday 17 Jul 2013
Headquarters of the Freedom and Justice Party in northern governorate of Daqahliya destroyed by locals in clashes
At least two people were injured in clashes between supporters and opponents of deposed president Mohamed Morsi late Tuesday in the Nile Delta city of Mit Ghamr in Daqahliya governorate.
The local headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party was torched after a march by Morsi's supporters.
Tarek El-Gizawi, a member of the grassroots anti-Morsi Rebel campaign in Mit Ghamr who was an eyewitness to the clashes, told Ahram Arabic news website that supporters of Morsi were chanting against both the police and army in their march. Scuffles erupted with locals as a result.
El-Gizawi accused a “leading Muslim Brotherhood member” who he did not name of attacking a young man named Mohamed Refaat with a bladed weapon during the clashes.
Security forces fired teargas to disperse the protests and reportedly arrested the Brotherhood leader accused of assaulting Refaat.
Pro-Morsi protesters have also been staging sit-ins and demonstrations around Cairo over the past week calling for the reinstatement of the Brotherhood figure.
On Monday, seven people were killed and 261 injured in overnight clashes between the police and pro-Morsi demonstrators in downtown Cairo and Giza.
The violence broke out late on Monday after police forces fired teargas at Morsi supporters who had blocked the 6 October Bridge and Ramsis Street in downtown Cairo.
On Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement in response to the clashes, accusing the police of returning to its brutal practices prior to the January 25 revolution. The statement further warned of a possible return to the “dictatorship police state” after a “bloody coup d’état.”
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/76667.aspx
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