Egypt fears bloody battle
One dead as Mursi’s friends and foes clash
FEARS mounted of a bloody showdown between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Mursi yesterday after one activist was killed in the latest violence in the Arab world’s most populous democracy.
Islamist groups called on supporters to camp out indefinitely in a Cairo square two days before a planned protest by mainly secular opposition to demand Mursi’s resignation a year after he took office.
The Islamists claim that their opponents are undermining the fledgling democracy less than two-and-ahalf years after the uprising that overthrew veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Their opponents say that the president has reneged on his promise to rule for all Egyptians and has failed to deliver on the uprising’s aspirations for freedom and social justice. The overnight violence erupted north of the capital.
Rival demonstrators clashed outside offices of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), on whose platform the president won the election.
The FJP said on its website that one of its supporters was killed, while 30 people were also wounded, the health ministry said.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies want to mass at a mosque in Cairo under the slogan “legitimacy is a red line”. The Islamists charge that demands for Mursi’s departure amount to an attempted coup and accuse the opposition of sympathy with Mubarak.
The president warned on Wednesday that the growing polarisation between his fans and foes threatens to “paralyse” Egypt.
He pledged to consider constitutional reforms and appealed to the opposition to join talks. It was his latest attempt to strike up talks between political factions in a country split between his Islamist allies and an opposition of leftists, liberals, Christians and some Muslim groups.
Thursday, the opposition National Salvation Front coalition rejected this offer and again called for a snap election to replace him.
Since taking office a year ago, Mursi has squared off against the judiciary, media, police and even artists.
But he has admitted to failings and has vowed to correct them. — Sapa-AFP