Morsi loyalists march through Cairo
14 Aug 2013 3:37 AM IST
Supporters of Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi marched defiantly through Cairo on Monday in a new show of force after the expiry of a government ultimatum to dismantle their huge protest camps.
Hundreds of demonstrators waving Egyptian flags and carrying pictures of the deposed president marched through the central Cairo neighbourhood of Ramses, as tensions rose over a threatened crackdown by the authorities.
Morsi loyalists, led by his Muslim Brotherhood movement, have kept in place two sit-ins in the capital and have also staged almost daily demonstrations around Egypt against the Islamist leader’s 3 July ouster by the military.
The country’s army-installed interim leaders have repeatedly warned them to leave, even promising the Brotherhood a return to political life for an end to the protests. With over 250 people killed since Morsi was overthrown and detained, authorities say they are eager to avoid more bloodshed.
The dispersal of the sit-ins will be ‘gradual’, with protesters given ‘several warnings’ before police move in, senior security officials said. ‘There will be a series of gradual steps. We will announce every step along the way,’ an interior ministry general told AFP.
Once the siege begins, the protesters will be ‘surrounded’, no one will be let into the sit-ins and the protesters will be given several warnings to leave, another security official said. ‘This will last two to three days,’ he said.
At the main Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in, dozens of men wearing helmets and holding clubs on Monday guarded makeshift brickwall barriers. Some in the camp acknowledged that police will eventually break through if they want.
Hundreds of demonstrators waving Egyptian flags and carrying pictures of the deposed president marched through the central Cairo neighbourhood of Ramses, as tensions rose over a threatened crackdown by the authorities.
Morsi loyalists, led by his Muslim Brotherhood movement, have kept in place two sit-ins in the capital and have also staged almost daily demonstrations around Egypt against the Islamist leader’s 3 July ouster by the military.
The country’s army-installed interim leaders have repeatedly warned them to leave, even promising the Brotherhood a return to political life for an end to the protests. With over 250 people killed since Morsi was overthrown and detained, authorities say they are eager to avoid more bloodshed.
The dispersal of the sit-ins will be ‘gradual’, with protesters given ‘several warnings’ before police move in, senior security officials said. ‘There will be a series of gradual steps. We will announce every step along the way,’ an interior ministry general told AFP.
Once the siege begins, the protesters will be ‘surrounded’, no one will be let into the sit-ins and the protesters will be given several warnings to leave, another security official said. ‘This will last two to three days,’ he said.
At the main Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in, dozens of men wearing helmets and holding clubs on Monday guarded makeshift brickwall barriers. Some in the camp acknowledged that police will eventually break through if they want.
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