Supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsy shout slogans during a
demonstration in support of Morsy in Cairo, on Friday. Islamist
supporters of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsy planned new
rallies as the interim premier suggested a crackdown on their protest camps was imminent. PHOTO |AFP
Posted Sunday, August 11 2013 at 15:52
In Summary
Defiant Morsy supporters rallied in their
thousands across Egypt on Friday, sparking clashes that left dozens
injured, as interim premier Hazem el-Beblawi suggested that a crackdown
on their protest camps was imminent.
United Nations, Saturday. UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon on Friday appealed to Egyptians to avoid provocations and
favour dialogue amid heightening tensions between supporters of deposed
president Mohamed Morsy and the interim government.
Ban said he is “deeply concerned” by the political
stalemate in Egypt, in a statement released by his spokesman on the
occasion of the holiday marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month
of Ramadan.
Ban “applauds the deep courage and commitment of the Egyptian people” towards peaceful change since mass protests began in January 2011.
“Yet in light of current tensions and given the
risk of potential violence, the secretary-general also believes it is of
critical importance that all sides in Egypt -- those in positions of
authority as well as those protesting in the street -- should urgently
reconsider their current actions and language,” the statement read.
Defiant Morsy supporters rallied in their
thousands across Egypt on Friday, sparking clashes that left dozens
injured, as interim premier Hazem el-Beblawi suggested that a crackdown
on their protest camps was imminent.
Ban “urges Egyptians to set aside or avoid actions
and words likely to be perceived by others as provocative. Instead they
should try to look creatively at new approaches toward a genuinely
inclusive political process that would be rooted in reconciliation.”
Ban’s “immediate concern is for the leaders of
Egypt, on all sides, to exercise their leadership and their
responsibility to do whatever can be done to prevent further loss of
life among the Egyptian people,” the statement read.
The UN leader said he was confident “that the
Egyptian people, representing one of the world’s great and historic
civilizations, will successfully find a way forward.”
Morsy’s Islamist supporters flooded streets in
central Cairo and in the second city Alexandria, carrying pictures of
the deposed leader and chanting against the military coup that ousted him on July 3.
In the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, clashes
between pro-Morsy protesters and residents in several towns left several
dozen injured, the official MENA news agency said.
In the oasis town of Fayyum, south of Cairo, Morsy
loyalists clashed with police who fired tear gas to disperse them,
security officials told AFP. Four people were injured, according to the
health ministry.
Pro-Morsy protesters also took to the streets in
the central Egyptian city of Assiut and the Nile Delta cities of
Mansoura and Mahalla, the official MENA agency reported.
Morsy loyalists, who have been holding two major sit-ins in the
capital have vowed to keep fighting for his reinstatement, saying that
his July 3 ouster by the military
is a violation of democratic principles. The army-backed government has
said it held off from breaking up the protest camps in Cairo out of
respect for the holy month of Ramadan, which ended on Wednesday night,
and to give foreign mediators a chance to end the deadlock peacefully.
With the failure of the mediation, the country is
bracing for an increasingly inevitable confrontation between the interim
leadership and Morsy’s loyalists demanding his reinstatement.
“The government wants to give the protesters,
especially the reasonable ones among them, a chance to reconcile and
heed the voice of reason,” said prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi. But he
warned, in a statement late Thursday, “that the situation is approaching
the moment we would rather avoid”. The deadlock could lead to a
prolonged crisis punctuated by violence as more radical Morsy supporters
turn to militancy, analysts say. “Short of a political agreement, the
most likely outcome is a prolonged stalemate, repeated clashes and a
transitional process in many ways fundamentally detached from reality,” the International Crisis Group watchdog said.
“Nor should one underestimate the risk that some
Islamists, convinced that the democratic process will never make room
for them, drift towards violence,” it added.
Many supporters of the coup that overthrew Morsy,
after millions rallied demanding his resignation, have pressed the
government to crack down on the Islamists.
“A truce for Eid,” read
the headline of the state newspaper Al-Gomhuria on Friday, as the
countdown began to the dispersal of the Cairo protest camps.
Idd-ul-Fitr, the holiday that concludes the Muslim fasting month of
Ramadhan, ended in Egypt at sunset yesterday.The main sit-in, in Rabaa
al-Adawiya Square, has come to resemble a village of tents, raising
concerns of a possible carnage if police move in.
“This remains a very fragile situation, which
holds not only the risk of more bloodshed and polarisation in Egypt, but
also impedes the economic recovery which is so essential for Egypt’s
successful transition,” US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a joint statement Wednesday.
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and EU
envoy Bernardino Leon left Cairo this week without making headway in
finding a compromise. The interim presidency said diplomacy had failed
and held Morsy’s Muslim Brotherhood responsible “for consequent events
and developments relating to violations of the law and endangering
public safety”.
Violence on the sidelines of demonstrations
between Morsy’s supporters and opponents has killed more than 250 people
-- mostly Morsy’s backers -- since the end of June. Western envoys
pressured the Brotherhood to end the sit-ins and urged the government to
release jailed Islamist leaders as a confidence-building measure. (AFP)
source: The citizen
source: The citizen
