Rare News Desk
Egypt’s military fired into pro-Morsi demonstrators Friday chanting “down with military rule” and demanding the reinstatement of the country’s President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who remained under house arrest in an undisclosed location, the Associated Press reported.
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Morsi’s Islamist party called for a “Friday of Rage,” sparking fears of violent reprisals, the AP reported.
The elected Islamist leader was overthrown by the military Wednesday after four days of massive protests marked his first anniversary in office.
On Thursday, the country’s chief justice Adly Mansour was sworn in as Egypt’s interim president while the Muslim Brotherhood’s revered top leader, General Guide Mohammed Badie, and his predecessor, Mahdi Akef, who had been seen as the two leaders calling the shots in Morsi’s government, were arrested, the AP reported.
Other top deputies have been arrested and a wanted list has been issued for more than 200 Brotherhood members and other Islamist group leaders, the AP reported.
According to the AP, military spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, posted on Facebook that the military has a “strong will to ensure national reconciliation, constructive justice and tolerance” and urged protesters to remain peaceful and not to target Brotherhood offices and spark an “endless cycle of revenge.”
Assailants attacked el-Arish airport in the Sinai Peninsula, and the Central Security camp in Rafah, where the Gaza Strip border crossing was closed, the AP reported. Extremist Islamic militants have gained strength in the Sinai since security broke down in the 2011 uprising that forced longtime President Hosni Mubarak from power.
The Brotherhood has said it will not cooperate with the military leaders and declared its “complete rejection of the military coup staged against the elected president and the will of the nation,” the AP reported, citing a Brotherhood statement read by a senior cleric outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo where protesters gathered.
The Brotherhood railed at the military’s shutdown of its pro-Islamist television channels and newspaper, the AP reported.
The National Salvation Front, Morsi’s top opposition political group, is proposing Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, to become prime minister of an interim Cabinet. He is considered the top advocate for reform in Egypt, the AP reported.
President Barack Obama, according to the AP, said the U.S. is carefully watching the events and eyeing their $1.5 billion aid to the country.
Other world leaders, including Turkey’s pro-Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leaders of Iran and Tunisia spoke out against the uprising and military overthrow, while Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad hailed the overthrow as the end of “political Islam,” United Arab Emirates leaders said they are “satisfied” with the events and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he was “certain that [Egypt’s] new president will move on with the new plan in holding elections and safeguarding national reconciliation,” the AP reported.
Related articles
- What now for the Muslim Brotherhood? (jpost.com)
- Egypt braces for pro-Morsi protests (aljazeera.com)
- Egypt Braces for ‘Friday of Rejection’ (foxnews.com)
- Egypt army moves against Brotherhood (bbc.co.uk)
- After Morsi’s Ousting, Egypt Swears in New President, Cracks Down on the Muslim Brotherhood (world.time.com)
- Muslim Brotherhood’s top leader arrested (vancouverdesi.com)
- American one of two people killed in violence in Egypt – Boston Globe (bostonglobe.com)
