Army gives morsi 48 hours
Brotherhood faces ‘coup with two-days’ notice’
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was left reeling Monday night after the army pledged to intervene in the country’s political crisis in 48 hours if the government it leads could not reach a compromise with opposition forces filling the capital’s streets.
The unprecedented step, described by government opponents as a “coup with two days’ notice,” left the Islamist organization looking beaten and outnumbered just a year after it won election.
Fearing that President Mohammed Morsi was no longer capable of controlling the country, the army issued a statement on live television in response to the huge protest marches and violent clashes that have swept Cairo and other cities.
“The armed forces repeat their call to respond to the people’s demands, and give everyone 48 hours as a last chance to fulfill the burden of historical circumstance,” the statement, signed by General Abdulfatah al-Sisi, the minister of defence and head of the armed forces, said.
“If the demands of the people are not met within this period, it will be incumbent upon us to announce a road map for the future and oversee measures to implement it.”
The announcement appeared to stun the Brotherhood and supporters of Mr. Morsi, who until the marches were launched on Sunday were confident that only a minority of people, mostly loyal to the former regime of Hosni Mubarak, supported opposition calls for him to quit.
There was no sign that he had been informed in advance of the army’s move, even though Gen. Sisi is a member of Mr. Morsi’s cabinet and Mr. Morsi is technically head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
It is not clear that it means the army will force Mr. Morsi to step down — or whether he would do so if it was demanded of him. He was said to be meeting Gen. Sisi and to be preparing to give his own response last night.
But many of the protesters on the streets believed the army would at least order fresh elections — a key demand. Tamarod, or “Rebellion,” the opposition coalition that organized Sunday’s protests and said it had gathered 22 million signatures calling for Mr. Morsi to step down, said the army had “sided with the people.”
The announcement was met with cheers by tens of thousands gathered in Tahrir Square, many of whom were in the same square and forced Mr. Mubarak’s resignation in February 2011. In tumultuous scenes, drivers in Cairo honked their horns and waved national flags out of their windows. Several army helicopters flew over the square proudly trailing the national flag.
earlier, some protesters had turned their attention to the Brotherhood headquarters in the new development of Moqattam on the edge of Cairo.
The police had refused to defend the property, and in the clashes that ensued gunshots were exchanged. eight people, all protesters, were killed.
Witnesses said that although there was firing from both sides, the Brotherhood supporters in the building were protected by sandbags.
As the attackers lay dying in the street, their colleagues hurled gasoline bombs at the building, setting it alight. At about 7 a.m., an armoured vehicle arrived to evacuate the occupants. The protesters then stormed the building, smashing windows, looting furniture and taking away cartloads of documents.
Angry relatives gathered at the morgue where bodies were taken and at the local police station, saying the police had arrested and then let go Brotherhood members in the area.
Alaa Mohammed el-Sayed, 26, said he had been shot in the hand and leg from inside the building as he tried to retrieve the body of his brother, Ahmed. “He was shot in the head,” he said. “He died five minutes later. No ambulance came to rescue him.”
A state security official standing guard said they had decided not to intervene so that they “did not have to arrest kids.”
The violence, and eight additional deaths elsewhere in the country, demonstrated the Brotherhood’s inability to command the authority of the police, a power base of the Mubarak regime. Police not only refused to protect Brotherhood buildings, but several of its officers took part in the protests, even addressing the crowds in Tahrir Square.
At their own semi-permanent counter-rally outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, Brotherhood supporters said they had been betrayed and urged Mr. Morsi not to step
this is a counterrevolution against legitimacy
aside. “This is a counter-revolution against legitimacy,” Sayed Wanas, a teacher, said. The Brotherhood point to Mr. Morsi’s election victory a year ago and say he is the only democratically chosen leader in egypt’s 7,000-year history.
“If the army doesn’t protect legitimate government, the people will protect it themselves,” said Mr. Wanas.