Authorities delay plans to end Cairo sit-ins
Print Edition
Egyptian authorities yesterday postponed plans to disperse two Cairo sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi, saying they wanted to “avoid bloodshed,” security officials said.
Judicial officials meanwhile said a judge ordered the deposed president, detained since his July 3 ouster, should be held for 15 more days pending investigations into charges he conspired in 2011 with Palestinian militants.
The postponement announcement came as Morsi supporters held new rallies demanding his return to power, marching down a main boulevard at the heart of Cairo chanting anti-military slogans and waving the toppled president’s picture.
At least temporarily, the delay is likely to defuse tensions that had spiked overnight, with the country bracing for a new bout of violence if the police move against protesters.
Tens of thousands have occupied two encampments in Cairo’s streets since even before Morsi’s July 3 overthrow. At least 130 of his supporters have been killed in two major clashes on the edges of the larger encampment.
An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to postpone a move against the protest camps by Muslim Brotherhood supporters came after a plan on ending the sit-ins was leaked to the media.
The security forces had planned to form cordons around the Cairo protest sites as early as dawn yesterday, according to officials.
The government’s decision to clear the sit-ins came after failure of nearly two weeks of efforts by the international community to find a peaceful resolution. Egypt’s interim prime minister warned ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, which ended on Sunday, that the government’s decision to clear the sit-ins was “irreversible.”
Morsi was deposed after millions of Egyptians took to the streets on June 30, demanding he step down over what they saw as his failure to govern inclusively and failure to manage the economy. Many accused him of acting only on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. Huge protests continued for four days.
The Brotherhood has responded the ouster of Morsi, the winner of Egypt’s first freely contested presidential elections, was a blow to legitimacy.
The two sides have not been able to reach a compromise.
Yesterday, influential Brotherhood member Mohammed el-Beltagi said he turned down an offer by the head of Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world’s top religious institution, to negotiate a solution.
El-Beltagi said top Al-Azhar cleric Ahmed el-Tayyib was not an impartial mediator because he backed the coup.
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