Morsi supporters defiant after weekend of violence
Print Edition
Egypt’s political crisis deepened yesterday, with supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi digging in a day after bloody clashes killed 72 people.
Violence was reported in several towns early yesterday, with two dead in separate incidents.
The Sinai Peninsula also saw unrest, with security forces killing 10 militants and arresting 20 others, state news agency MENA said.
Saturday’s bloodshed drew international and domestic condemnation, including from Washington, a key backer of Egypt’s army.
Egypt’s Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, who has warned that pro-Morsi demonstrations would be dispersed “soon,” again sounded a firm line.
“We will not allow any mercenary or person bearing a grudge to try to disrupt the atmosphere of unity, and we will confront them with the greatest of force and firmness,” he said at a police graduation ceremony yesterday.
At the scene of Saturday’s violence, where the health ministry said 72 people were killed, Morsi loyalists remained defiant, with several thousand camped out by the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
“There are feelings of agony and anger, but also a very strong feeling of determination,” Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad told reporters.
“People are hugely defiant. For us, if we die, we meet our creator and we did so for a just cause... Either we die or we succeed.
Sociology professor Khaled Khalil noted that former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted by the January 2011 uprising, “fell in a peaceful way.”
“God willing, Sisi will fall in the same peaceful way,” he added of army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the coup that deposed Morsi.
The violence early on Saturday was the bloodiest incident since Morsi was ousted on July 3 following huge demonstrations against his rule.
The deaths came after rival protests both for and against Morsi on Friday.
The health ministry said nine people were also killed on Friday in second city Alexandria.
Sporadic violence continued early yesterday, with a security source reporting two people killed in clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents in Port Said and northern Kafr El-Zayat.
Both clashes came at the funerals of Morsi supporters killed in Cairo.
In Menufiya, in the central Delta region, Morsi opponents set fire to the Brotherhood headquarters, causing no injuries, MENA said.
Morsi supporters said Saturday’s bloodshed was the result of security forces using live fire on unarmed protesters, but the interior ministry insisted only tear gas was used.
Ibrahim warned on Saturday that pro-Morsi demonstrations would be dispersed “in a legal fashion” and “as soon as possible,” urging protesters to “come to their senses” and go home.
The violence prompted international condemnation, with Human Rights Watch accusing Egyptian authorities of “criminal disregard for people’s lives.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed Washington’s “deep concern.”
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