Egyptian Held Prisoner, No Charge Since Morsi Overthrown

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Kerry urges Egypt reform after Morsi ouster

CAIRO (AP) — The United States and Egypt put a brave face on badly strained relations on Sunday, vowing to restore their full partnership as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry became the highest-ranking Obama administration official to visit the country since the ouster this summer of its first democratically elected president.

Opening a 10-day tour of the Middle East, Europe and North Africa, Kerry and Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy played down tensions between Washington and Cairo. They pledged to work through the turbulence caused by the military’s removal of President Mohammed Morsi and subsequent harsh crackdown on his supporters that led the U.S. to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

Yet strains were clearly evident. The State Department expected a frosty reception for Kerry especially with tensions running high on the eve of Monday’s scheduled start of Morsi’s trial on charges of inciting murder. It refused to confirm Kerry’s brief visit until he landed in Cairo, even though Egypt’s official news agency reported the impending trip on Friday.

The secrecy was unprecedented for a secretary of state’s travel to Egypt, for decades one of the closest U.S. allies in the Arab world, and highlighted the deep rifts that have emerged. Eager to avoid the potential for demonstrations related to his visit or Morsi’s impending trial, Kerry was spending most of his six hours on the ground in Cairo at a hotel near the airport. He was to close his visit with meetings at the presidential palace and defense ministry later in the day.

Kerry said that the U.S.-Egyptian relationship should not be defined by American assistance and insisted that the suspension of major amounts of military aid was “not a punishment.” He said the topic was only a minor topic in his discussion with Fahmy and held out the prospect of resumptions in the aid as Egypt makes progress in restoring civilian democratic rule and ensuring the protection of basic human rights, including respect for freedom of expression, religion and the press.

“The United States believes that the U.S.-Egypt partnership is going to be strongest when Egypt is represented by an inclusive, democratically-elected, civilian government based on rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and an open and competitive economy,” Kerry told reporters at a joint news conference with Fahmy. Kerry spoke of the importance of all trials being transparent and respecting rule of law but did not specifically mention the case against Morsi.

While acknowledging that Egypt had faced “difficult challenges” and “turbulent years,” including in its relationship with the U.S., Kerry urged Egyptians to continue their “march to democracy.” The U.S. is a friend and partner to the Egyptian people and wants to contribute to the country’s success, he said, adding the US would accept an Egyptian offer to set up a “strategic dialogue” that would discuss regional security and counterterrorism efforts among other things.

Fahmy said last month that U.S.-Egyptian relations were in “turmoil” and warned that the strain could affect the entire Middle East.

But on Sunday, he struck a less strident tone. He noted Kerry’s positive comments about the “roadmap” to democracy laid out by Egypt’s military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and said they indicated that “we are all pursuing a resumption of normal relations.”

“I said a few days ago that Egypt-U.S. relations are undergoing a turbulent phase… but what the American secretary of state said to me during the closed session and here about U.S. support for the Egyptian people and the road map are indications that we all pursuing a resumption of normal relations,” Fahmy said. “I thank him for that.”

The roadmap includes amending the Islamist-tilted constitution adopted under Morsi last year and putting the new charter to a nationwide referendum before the end of the year, then having parliamentary and presidential elections by the spring of 2014.

Kerry offered cautious praise for the interim government, saying it “has made very important statements about the roadmap and is now engaged” in implementing those steps.

Kerry last was in Egypt in March, when he urged Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-backed government to enact sweeping economic reforms and govern in a more inclusive manner. Those calls went unheeded. Simmering public unhappiness with his rule boiled over when the powerful Egyptian military deposed Morsi on July 3 and established an interim government.

The Obama administration was caught in a bind over whether to condemn the ouster as a coup and cut the annual $ 1.3 billion in U.S. military assistance that such a determination would legally require.

The U.S. waffled for months before deciding last month to suspend most big-ticket military aid such as tanks, helicopters and fighter jets, while declining to make a coup determination. The U.S. also is withholding $ 260 million in budget support to the government.

Egypt is receiving billions of dollars in aid from wealthy Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But Egyptian authorities reacted angrily to the U.S. aid suspension, declaring it a new low point in ties that have been strained since the popular revolt that unseated authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

With U.S. influence ebbing, Kerry’s message about the importance of economic and constitutional reforms was expected to be met with suspicion, if not outright hostility, by Egyptian leaders and a population deeply mistrustful of Washington’s motives. Many Egyptians accuse the Obama administration of taking sides in their domestic political turmoil; American officials adamantly deny it.

After meeting Fahmy and civic leaders, Kerry was to see el-Sissi; the interim president, Adly Mansour to stress the necessity of democratic transition through a transparent and inclusive constitutional process, and free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections.

From Egypt, Kerry planned to travel to Saudi Arabia, Poland, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Morocco. The trip is widely seen as a damage control mission to ease disagreements between the U.S. and its friends over Syria, Iran and the revelations of widespread U.S. surveillance activities around the globe.

Associated Press

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Kerry urges Egypt reform after Morsi ouster

Egypt police fire teargas on Morsi supporters

Police have used teargas to disperse demonstrations of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, and in Suez.

Thousands of supporters of Egypt’s first elected president Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group marched in Cairo and other cities, to keep pressure on the military-backed leadership.

Morsi supporters turned out on Friday to demonstrate in Cairo’s southern district of Maadi, calling for Morsi to be reinstated and urging military leader General Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to step aside.

Other scattered protests occurred across Egypt.

In Suez, police fired tear gas to disperse around 4,000 pro-Morsi demonstrators, a local witness said.

And in Alexandria, around 1,000 demonstrators blocked the Corniche, the main road along the Mediterranean seafront, and chanted slogans against the army and police, a witness said.

Residents and drivers threw stones at the demonstrators to try to force them to let traffic through, which triggered
clashes.

Police responded by firing teargas to disperse the crowds. Two people were arrested.

Residents and pro-Morsi protesters also clashed in the Wardeyan area of western Alexandria until police fired teargas
to disperse the crowds, a witness said.

Morsi was overthrown along with his Muslim Brotherhood-led government in a July 3 coup after millions protested against his leadership, claiming the Islamist president was incompetent and overstepped his authority during a year in power.

Since then, his supporters have staged near-daily rallies around the country, protesting security crackdown in which hundreds have been killed and more than 2,000 of group’s members have been jailed. Morsi has been held incommunicado since his ousting and a court has ordered an outright ban on his group.

An umbrella group of Islamist parties, including the Brotherhood, said Friday’s rallies were the beginning of a weeklong protest campaign until November 4 when Morsi is scheduled to appear in court.

The campaign has been dubbed the week of “steadfastness”.

Morsi faces criminal charges accusing him of inciting the murder of rallying opponents while he was in office.

Authorities have not said whether Morsi will appear at the hearing. If he does, it will be his first public appearance since the coup.

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Egypt police fire teargas on Morsi supporters

Morsi supporters plan more protests

Supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi have once again planned protests amid a violent clampdown on demonstrators.

The Anti-Coup Alliance said several rallies are planned in the capital Cairo later on Sunday.

On Friday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Egypt in response to a call by the Muslim Brotherhood for nationwide protests against the army and its handpicked government.

The security forces and opponents of the Brotherhood fired on the supporters of Morsi.

The Egyptian government has been intensifying its crackdown on Morsi supporters.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that police had arrested more than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood figures following the bloody clashes of Friday.

The Brotherhood said police had arrested its members in an attempt to gain leverage over the group.

Over 170 people, most of them pro-Morsi protesters, have been killed since Friday in nationwide rallies across the country.

Egypt has been gripped by a bloody violence since Morsi’s ouster by the army on July 3, when the head of the country’s armed forces, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, removed Morsi from office. Sisi also suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament. The Egyptian army appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, as the new interim president.

On August 14, the military-appointed government launched a brutal crackdown on thousands of peaceful protesters in Cairo, who were demanding the reinstatement of Morsi. Over 640 people died and hundreds of others were injured.

The interim government in Egypt has been facing international condemnation over the killing of protesters. Amnesty International has called for a thorough and unbiased investigation into the August 14 massacre. 

Source: Press TV, 18 August 2013

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Morsi supporters plan more protests

Egypt police expected to besiege Morsi sit-ins

A newly-wed Egyptian couple show up on a stage to announce their marriage before hundreds of supporters for Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi at the sit-in at Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, which is fortified with multiple walls of bricks, tires, metal barricades and sandbags, and where protesters have installed their camp in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013. Egyptian security forces will besiege two sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted president within 24 hours, police officials said Sunday, setting up a possible confrontation between the military-backed government and the thousands gathered there. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A newly-wed Egyptian couple show up on a stage to announce their marriage before hundreds of supporters for Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi at the sit-in at Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, which is fortified with multiple walls of bricks, tires, metal barricades and sandbags, and where protesters have installed their camp in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013. Egyptian security forces will besiege two sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted president within 24 hours, police officials said Sunday, setting up a possible confrontation between the military-backed government and the thousands gathered there. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A supporter of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi kisses the ground where a fellow was shot to death near the sit-in at Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, which is fortified with multiple walls of bricks, tires, metal barricades and sandbags, and where protesters have installed their camp in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013.. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

An Egyptian girl waves a national flag while supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi chant slogans against the Egyptian Army at the sit-in at Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, which is fortified with multiple walls of bricks, tires, metal barricades and sandbags, and where protesters have installed their camp in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013. Egyptian security forces will besiege two sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted president within 24 hours, police officials said Sunday, setting up a possible confrontation between the military-backed government and the thousands gathered there. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi stamp money with anti-coup slogans at the sit-in at Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, which is fortified with multiple walls of bricks, tires, metal barricades and sandbags, and where protesters have installed their camp in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013. Egyptian security forces will besiege two sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted president within 24 hours, police officials said Sunday, setting up a possible confrontation between the military-backed government and the thousands gathered there. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A supporter of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi stands in front of her tent in the sit-in at Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, which is fortified with multiple walls of bricks, tires, metal barricades and sandbags, and where protesters have installed their camp in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013. Egyptian security forces will besiege two sit-ins by supporters of the country’s ousted president within 24 hours, police officials said Sunday, setting up a possible confrontation between the military-backed government and the thousands gathered there. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

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CAIRO (AP) — Supporters of Egypt’s ousted president have dug in at their two Cairo sit-ins after security officials said police would besiege the entrenched protest camps within 24 hours — perhaps as early as Monday morning.

The development sets the stage for a possible confrontation between the military-backed government and the thousands gathered at the protest sites in support of ex-President Mohammed Morsi.

The protesters have said they will not leave until Morsi, ousted in a popularly supported coup on July 3, is reinstated.

Weeks of efforts by the international community to end the standoff and find a peaceful resolution have so far failed. Egypt’s interim prime minister warned just ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday that ended Sunday that the government’s decision to clear the sit-ins was “irreversible.”

Egypt’s new leadership says the protests have frightened residents of Cairo, sparked deadly violence and disrupted traffic. Leaders of the sit-in say they have been peaceful and blame security forces and “thugs” for violence. More than 250 people have killed in violence since Morsi’s ouster.

At the main Cairo sit-in, vendors said they have sold hundreds of gas masks, goggles and gloves to protesters readying for police tear gas. Three waist-high barriers of concrete and wood have been built against armored vehicles.

The security officials said they would set up cordons around the protest sites to bar anyone from entering, and one of the officials said that could begin as soon as sunrise.

But by dawn Monday, there was no indication of any troops moving and the government has not confirmed when forces would advance on the sit-ins.

The Interior Ministry has said it would take gradual measures, issuing warnings in recent weeks and saying it would use water cannons and tear gas to minimize casualties.

Interior Ministry officials, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss details of the security plans, said they are prepared for clashes that might be set off by the cordons. The officials said police are working with the Health Ministry to ensure ambulances are on hand for the wounded and that armored police vans are nearby to take away those arrested.

A special force within the riot police trained for crowd dispersal is expected to deal with protesters. In the past, however, Egypt’s riot police, many lacking the training to deal with unarmed civilians, have resorted to using lethal force.

Mass rallies two weeks ago called by Egypt’s military leader, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, showed that a large segment of Egypt’s population backs the armed forces’ actions against Morsi’s supporters.

Just before the holiday, the government said international efforts failed to reach a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Morsi’s supporters, who include members of his Muslim Brotherhood. A last-ditch effort was launched over the weekend by the Sunni Muslim world’s pre-eminent religious institution, Al-Azhar, to push for a resolution.

There are fears that violence from police trying to clear the two sites will spread to other areas of the capital and beyond, where thousands of Morsi supporters also hold near-daily marches.

The main protest camp in Cairo is between middle-class residential buildings and ground floor businesses. Its focal point is a mosque and an adjacent stage where Brotherhood leaders charged with inciting violence openly talk to journalists.

Among them is former lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagy, who vowed over the weekend to continue protesting at the sit-ins.

“We will happily sacrifice our souls, not for ourselves but to free the captured nation and to ensure freedom and dignity to our people and to the coming generations,” he said.

Security officials, speaking anonymously because they are not authorized to release the information, suspect Brotherhood guards around the mosque in Rabaah al-Adawiya Square are well-armed. They also say both camps have armed protesters on rooftops ready to shoot.

The Interior Ministry has depicted the encampments as a public danger, saying 11 bodies bearing signs of torture were found near both sites.

Amnesty International has also reported that anti-Morsi protesters have been captured, beaten, subjected to electric shocks or stabbed. At least eight bodies have arrived at a morgue in Cairo bearing signs of torture, the human rights group said.

Of the more than 250 people killed since Morsi’s ouster, at least 130 were his supporters who died in two clashes with security forces last month.

At the Cairo sit-ins, the overwhelming majority echo the demands of the Muslim Brotherhood: Restore Morsi to power and reverse all the actions taken by the military, including suspension of the disputed constitution and disbanding of the legislature.

Many of those interviewed dismissed the mass protests against Morsi in the final weekend of June that preceded the military coup. They acknowledge that Egypt is sharply divided, but worry that if they do not defend the sit-ins, they will be detained and tortured — just as many were before the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

They say they waited for hours to vote for Morsi in the elections that catapulted his Brotherhood to power after years of oppression and that the military leaders have now stolen their children’s future by overturning the outcomes of the balloting.

Um Roqiya said she will remain camped out with her five children, despite concerns for their safety.

“We are here to defend legitimacy. If I die defending that, we are martyrs,” she said while patting her 7-year-old son on the head.

Her husband, longtime Brotherhood member Abdel-Latif Omran, said he can do nothing to protect his children from death because their fate has already been decided by God.

Organizations like UNICEF have condemned what it calls the deliberate use of children in Egypt who are “put at risk as potential witnesses to or victims of violence.” The Brotherhood says it cannot control families that choose to camp out.

Neither authorities nor the guards have made clear how women and children will be able to safely leave if rocks start flying and tear gas is fired. In past clashes, birdshot and live bullets were allegedly used by both sides.

Saber Mohammed Mansour, who is from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, has spent 44 days as a guard at the main camp. Dressed in a traditional “galabiya,” a long loose garment, Mansour said he is willing to die for the cause.

Mansour and his fellow civilian guards, who wear hardhats and stand behind the sandbags, say their only weapons are the sticks they wield.

For Morsi supporters, the sit-ins are one of the last ways to express themselves against the new government. TV channels sympathetic to Morsi were shut down after they appeared to incite violence. Morsi and top leaders of the Brotherhood have been detained and are facing criminal investigations.

Associated Press

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Egypt police expected to besiege Morsi sit-ins

Dozens of Morsi Backers Are Reported Killed in Cairo

Mahmoud Khaled/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Supporters of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s deposed president, ran through what appeared to be tear gas on Monday outside the Republican Guard officers’ club in Cairo.

CAIRO — Egyptian security officials and members of the Muslim Brotherhood said that more than 30 supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi were killed as violence erupted outside a military officers’ club early Monday where the supporters had been holding a sit-in for days demanding his release from detention.

The military itself said five people had died. A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood said the supporters were killed by soldiers and police officers during an “unprovoked” attack during dawn prayers using tear gas and live ammunition.

The spokesman, Gehad el-Haddad, said that doctors had counted 37 dead. Security officials said the toll stood at 35, all civilians. Egypt’s military gave a sharply differing account, saying that a “terrorist group” had tried to attack the officers’ club compound and that 5 attackers and 1 soldier had been killed, according to The Associated Press.

Neither account could be immediately verified. Al-Jazeera broadcast footage of a field hospital run by Mr. Morsi’s supporters, showing what appeared to be several bodies lying on the ground and doctors treating bloodied patients. Army tanks blocked approaches to the officers’ club, as well as another square nearby where the field hospital was located.

It was the second explosion of deadly violence outside the Republican Guard club since the military intervened on Wednesday to depose Mr. Morsi, following mass protests against his rule. Mr. Morsi’s supporters believe the former president is being held inside the club, and have held rallies at its gates, demanding his release.

The killings came a day after the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies vowed to broaden their protests against the president’s ouster and American diplomats sought to persuade the Islamist group to accept his overthrow, its officials said. But the killings on Monday seemed certain to inject perilous new factors into the country’s fragile political calculus.

Continuing a push for accommodation that began before the removal of Mr. Morsi last week, the American diplomats contacted Brotherhood leaders to try to persuade them to re-enter the political process, an Islamist briefed on one of the conversations said on Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“They are asking us to legitimize the coup,” the Islamist said, arguing that accepting the removal of an elected president would be the death of Egyptian democracy. The United States Embassy in Cairo declined to comment.

Even as both sides continued their street demonstrations on Sunday, Egypt’s new leaders continued their effort to form an interim government. Squabbles about a choice for prime minister spilled out into the open on Saturday, exposing splits among the country’s newly ascendant political forces.

State news media quoted a spokesman for Adli Mansour, the interim president, on Sunday as saying there was a “tendency” to name Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize-winning diplomat, as vice president, and a former chair of Egypt’s investment authority, Ziad Bahaa el-Din, as interim prime minister.

On Saturday, state news media said Mr. ElBaradei had been chosen as prime minister, but the presidency later backed away from the report after ultraconservatives known as Salafis, who fault Mr. ElBaradei for being too secular, apparently rejected the appointment. It was not clear on Sunday that the Salafi party, Al Nour, was any more inclined to accept Mr. ElBaradei as vice president.

Mr. Bahaa el-Din, a lawyer who served in the investment authority and on the board of the Central Bank under former President Hosni Mubarak, was abroad and was considering the request, according to a spokesman for his political party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party.

The lack of agreement means that Egypt has been without a fully functioning government since Wednesday, when the defense minister, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, announced that Mr. Morsi had been deposed.

The power vacuum has left confusion about who is responsible for making decisions in the interim, and in particular for law enforcement. Over the past few days, the authorities have arrested Muslim Brotherhood officials and shut down television stations, including Islamist channels, though it is not clear on whose orders the security services were acting.

On Sunday, Al Jazeera reported that prosecutors had interrogated its Cairo bureau chief, Abdel Fattah Fayed, for hours before releasing him on bail.

Mayy El Sheikh and Asmaa Al Zohairy contributed reporting.

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Dozens of Morsi Backers Are Reported Killed in Cairo

Crowds march in Egypt, pushing for Morsi removal

An Egyptian protester waves a national flag as Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square during a demonstration against President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

An Egyptian protester waves a national flag as Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square during a demonstration against President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Opponents of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Supporters of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi hold sticks and shields as they rally in Nasser City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Graffiti, including a caricature of President Mohammed Morsi, left and ousted President Hosni Munarak, is painted on the wall of a building across from the Ministry of Culture in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. The red Arabic words below the face drawing reads, “Whoever cost it didn’t die.” The Arabic next to the face drawing reads, “Down with the rule of sheep.” The red and white Arabic reads, “The revolution is everywhere against the killer and the traitor.” (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Opponents of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi protest outside the presidential palace, in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.

Nationwide, the rallies were among the most gigantic Egypt has seen in nearly 2 ½ years of continuous upheaval, including during the square-packing, 18-day uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

Waving Egyptian flags and carrying posters of Morsi crossed out in red, crowds packed central Cairo’s Tahrir square, the birthplace of anti-Mubarak, thunderous chants of “erhal!”, or “leave!” rang out.

At the same time, a tidal wave of crowds marched on the Ittihadiya presidential palace, filling a broad boulevard for blocks and spilling over into nearby avenues. “You lied to us in the name of religion,” some chanted, and others raised a banner proclaiming, “Morsi=Mubarak. Early presidential elections.” The crowds hoisted long banners in the colors of the Egyptian flag and raised red cards — a sign of expulsion in soccer.

Near Ittihadiya palace, thousands of Islamists gathered in a show of support for Morsi outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque. Some Morsi backers wore homemade body armor and construction helmets and carried shields and clubs — precautions, they said, against possible violence. Their crowd also swelled as sun went down and summer temperatures became more tolerable.

Up until nightfall, violence was limited to a few pockets in the provinces as the two sides largely stayed apart. The anti-Morsi protests had a festive, celebratory atmosphere, with many families with young children among the crowds of men, women and elderly.

In a potentially volatile confrontation after nightfall, however, several dozen youths attacked the headquarters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood on a plateau overlooking the capital. They threw stones and firebombs at the building, and people inside the walled villa fired at the attackers with birdshot, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman at the scene. Earlier in the day, two offices belonging to the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party, were attacked and ransacked in the city of Bani Suef, south of Cairo.

The opposition’s goal is to show through sheer numbers in the street that so much of the country has turned against Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president, that he can no longer rule. Similarly sized crowds turned out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta cities of Mansoura, Tanta and Damanhour, with sizeable rallies in cities nationwide.

“Mubarak took only 18 days although he had behind him the security, intelligence and a large sector of Egyptians. Morsi got all of us against him, even the army and police,” said Amr Tawfeeq, an oil company employee marching toward Ittihadiya with a Christian friend. “He won’t take long. We want him out and we are ready to pay the price.”

Morsi, who has three years left in his term, has said he will not step down, saying street protests cannot be used to overturn the results of a free election.

“There is no room for any talk against this constitutional legitimacy,” he told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper in an interview published Sunday, rejecting early elections.

If an elected president is forced out, “well, there will (be) people or opponents opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later, they will ask him to step down,” he said.

As the crowds massed, Morsi’s spokesman repeated the president’s longstanding offer of dialogue with the opposition to resolve the nation’s political crisis, calling it “the only framework through which we can reach understandings.”

“I cannot imagine any substitute for dialogue,” said the spokesman Ihab Fahmi. The opposition has repeatedly turned down his offers for dialogue, arguing that they were for show.

There is a sense among opponents and supporters of Morsi that Sunday is a make-or-break day, hiking worries that the two camps will come to blows, even as each side insists it won’t start violence. Already at least seven people, including an American, have been killed in clashes the past week, mainly in Nile Delta cities and the coastal city of Alexandria.

The confrontation is the culmination of polarization and instability that have been building since Morsi’s June 30, 2012 inauguration as Egypt’s first freely elected leader. The past year has seen multiple political crises, bouts of bloody clashes and a steadily worsening economy, with power outages, fuel shortages, rising prices and persistent lawlessness and crime.

In one camp are the president and his Islamist allies, including the Muslim Brotherhood and more hard-line groups. Morsi supporters accuse Mubarak loyalists of being behind the protests, aiming to overturn last year’s election results, just as they argue that remnants of the old regime have sabotaged Morsi’s attempts to deal with the nation’s woes and bring reforms.

Hard-liners among them have also given the confrontation a sharply religious tone, denouncing Morsi’s opponents as “enemies of God” and infidels.

On the other side is an array of secular and liberal Egyptians, moderate Muslims, Christians — and what the opposition says is a broad sector of the general public that has turned against the Islamists. They say the Islamists have negated their election mandate by trying to monopolize power, infusing government with their supporters, forcing through a constitution they largely wrote and giving religious extremists a free hand, all while failing to manage the country.

With protesters from a range of social and economic levels in a festive atmosphere, the crowds resembled those from the 18 days of protests against Mubarak — a resemblance the protesters sought to reinforce, chanting the slogan from that time: “The people want to topple the regime.”

In Cairo, some marchers carried tents, planning to camp in Tahrir or outside the palace. Residents of nearby buildings sprinkled water down on the marchers to cool them in the punishing summer heat and waved flags and blew whistles in support.

“The country is only going backward (under Morsi). He’s embarrassing us and making people hate Islam,” said Donia Rashad, a 24-year-old unemployed woman who wears the conservative Islamic headscarf. “We need someone who can feel the people and is agreeable to the majority,” added Rashad, who wore a tiny tiara in the letters of “erhal.”

“Today is the Brotherhood’s last day in power,” said Suliman Mohammed, a manager of a seafood company who was protesting at Tahrir, where crowds appeared to approach 300,000 after nightfall.

“I came here today because Morsi did not accomplish any of the (2011) revolution’s goals. I don’t need anything for myself, but the needs of the poor were not met.”

At the pro-Morsi rally at the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque, the crowd chanted, “God is great,” and some held up copies of Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

“The people hold the legitimacy and we support Dr. Mohamed Morsi,” Ahmed Ramadan, one of those at the rally said. “We would like to tell him not to be affected by the opponents’ protests and not to give up his rights we are here to support and protect him.”

Underlining the potential for deadly violence, a flurry of police reports on Sunday spoke of the seizure of firearms, explosives and even artillery shells in various locations of the country, including Alexandria and the outskirts of Cairo. Banks closed early and most government offices shut down on Sunday, a work day in Egypt.

The opposition protests emerge from a petition campaign by a youth activist group known as Tamarod, Arabic for “Rebel.” For several months, the group has been collecting signatures on a call for Morsi to step down.

On Saturday the group announced it had more than 22 million signatures — proof, it claims, that a broad sector of the public no longer wants Morsi in office.

It was not possible to verify the claim. If true, it would be nearly twice the around 13 million people who voted for Morsi in last year’s presidential run-off election, which he won with around 52 percent of the vote. Tamarod organizers said they discarded about 100,000 signed forms because they were duplicates.

Morsi’s supporters have questioned the authenticity and validity of the signatures, but have produced no evidence of fraud.

Adding to his troubles, eight lawmakers from the country’s interim legislature announced their resignation Saturday to protest Morsi’s policies. The 270-seat chamber was elected early last year by less than 10 percent of Egypt’s eligible voters, and is dominated by Islamists.

A legal adviser to Morsi also announced his resignation late Saturday in protest of what he said was Morsi’s insult of judges in his latest speech on Wednesday.

A week ago, with the public sense of worry growing over the upcoming confrontation, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi last week gave the president and his opponents a week to reach a compromise. He warned that the military would intervene to prevent the nation from entering a “dark tunnel.”

Army troops backed by armored vehicles were deployed Sunday in some of Cairo’s suburbs, with soldiers, some in combat gear, stood at traffic lights and major intersections. Army helicopters flew over Cairo on several occasions on Sunday, adding to the day’s sense of foreboding. The aircraft were loudly cheered every time they flew over Tahrir.

Morsi had called for national reconciliation talks in a Wednesday speech but offered no specifics. Opposition leaders dismissed the call as cosmetics.

Asked by The Guardian whether he was confident that the army would not intervene if the country becomes ungovernable, Morsi replied, “Very.”

The Egyptian leader, however, said he did not know in advance of el-Sissi’s comments last week.

____

AP reporters Tony G. Gabriel and Mariam Rizk contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Top Headlines

Crowds march in Egypt, pushing for Morsi removal

Crowds march in Egypt, pushing for Morsi removal

An Egyptian protester waves a national flag as Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square during a demonstration against President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

An Egyptian protester waves a national flag as Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square during a demonstration against President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Opponents of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Supporters of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi hold sticks and shields as they rally in Nasser City, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Graffiti, including a caricature of President Mohammed Morsi, left and ousted President Hosni Munarak, is painted on the wall of a building across from the Ministry of Culture in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him. The red Arabic words below the face drawing reads, “Whoever cost it didn’t die.” The Arabic next to the face drawing reads, “Down with the rule of sheep.” The red and white Arabic reads, “The revolution is everywhere against the killer and the traitor.” (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Opponents of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi protest outside the presidential palace, in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured out onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

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CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president poured onto the streets in Cairo and across much of the nation Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.

Nationwide, the rallies were among the most gigantic Egypt has seen in nearly 2 ½ years of continuous upheaval, including during the square-packing, 18-day uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

Waving Egyptian flags and carrying posters of Morsi crossed out in red, crowds packed central Cairo’s Tahrir square, the birthplace of anti-Mubarak, thunderous chants of “erhal!”, or “leave!” rang out.

At the same time, a tidal wave of crowds marched on the Ittihadiya presidential palace, filling a broad boulevard for blocks and spilling over into nearby avenues. “You lied to us in the name of religion,” some chanted, and others raised a banner proclaiming, “Morsi=Mubarak. Early presidential elections.” The crowds hoisted long banners in the colors of the Egyptian flag and raised red cards — a sign of expulsion in soccer.

Near Ittihadiya palace, thousands of Islamists gathered in a show of support for Morsi outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque. Some Morsi backers wore homemade body armor and construction helmets and carried shields and clubs — precautions, they said, against possible violence. Their crowd also swelled as sun went down and summer temperatures became more tolerable.

Up until nightfall, violence was limited to a few pockets in the provinces as the two sides largely stayed apart. The anti-Morsi protests had a festive, celebratory atmosphere, with many families with young children among the crowds of men, women and elderly.

In a potentially volatile confrontation after nightfall, however, several dozen youths attacked the headquarters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood on a plateau overlooking the capital. They threw stones and firebombs at the building, and people inside the walled villa fired at the attackers with birdshot, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman at the scene. Earlier in the day, two offices belonging to the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party, were attacked and ransacked in the city of Bani Suef, south of Cairo.

The opposition’s goal is to show through sheer numbers in the street that so much of the country has turned against Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president, that he can no longer rule. Similarly sized crowds turned out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta cities of Mansoura, Tanta and Damanhour, with sizeable rallies in cities nationwide.

“Mubarak took only 18 days although he had behind him the security, intelligence and a large sector of Egyptians. Morsi got all of us against him, even the army and police,” said Amr Tawfeeq, an oil company employee marching toward Ittihadiya with a Christian friend. “He won’t take long. We want him out and we are ready to pay the price.”

Morsi, who has three years left in his term, has said he will not step down, saying street protests cannot be used to overturn the results of a free election.

“There is no room for any talk against this constitutional legitimacy,” he told Britain’s The Guardian newspaper in an interview published Sunday, rejecting early elections.

If an elected president is forced out, “well, there will (be) people or opponents opposing the new president too, and a week or a month later, they will ask him to step down,” he said.

As the crowds massed, Morsi’s spokesman repeated the president’s longstanding offer of dialogue with the opposition to resolve the nation’s political crisis, calling it “the only framework through which we can reach understandings.”

“I cannot imagine any substitute for dialogue,” said the spokesman Ihab Fahmi. The opposition has repeatedly turned down his offers for dialogue, arguing that they were for show.

There is a sense among opponents and supporters of Morsi that Sunday is a make-or-break day, hiking worries that the two camps will come to blows, even as each side insists it won’t start violence. Already at least seven people, including an American, have been killed in clashes the past week, mainly in Nile Delta cities and the coastal city of Alexandria.

The confrontation is the culmination of polarization and instability that have been building since Morsi’s June 30, 2012 inauguration as Egypt’s first freely elected leader. The past year has seen multiple political crises, bouts of bloody clashes and a steadily worsening economy, with power outages, fuel shortages, rising prices and persistent lawlessness and crime.

In one camp are the president and his Islamist allies, including the Muslim Brotherhood and more hard-line groups. Morsi supporters accuse Mubarak loyalists of being behind the protests, aiming to overturn last year’s election results, just as they argue that remnants of the old regime have sabotaged Morsi’s attempts to deal with the nation’s woes and bring reforms.

Hard-liners among them have also given the confrontation a sharply religious tone, denouncing Morsi’s opponents as “enemies of God” and infidels.

On the other side is an array of secular and liberal Egyptians, moderate Muslims, Christians — and what the opposition says is a broad sector of the general public that has turned against the Islamists. They say the Islamists have negated their election mandate by trying to monopolize power, infusing government with their supporters, forcing through a constitution they largely wrote and giving religious extremists a free hand, all while failing to manage the country.

With protesters from a range of social and economic levels in a festive atmosphere, the crowds resembled those from the 18 days of protests against Mubarak — a resemblance the protesters sought to reinforce, chanting the slogan from that time: “The people want to topple the regime.”

In Cairo, some marchers carried tents, planning to camp in Tahrir or outside the palace. Residents of nearby buildings sprinkled water down on the marchers to cool them in the punishing summer heat and waved flags and blew whistles in support.

“The country is only going backward (under Morsi). He’s embarrassing us and making people hate Islam,” said Donia Rashad, a 24-year-old unemployed woman who wears the conservative Islamic headscarf. “We need someone who can feel the people and is agreeable to the majority,” added Rashad, who wore a tiny tiara in the letters of “erhal.”

“Today is the Brotherhood’s last day in power,” said Suliman Mohammed, a manager of a seafood company who was protesting at Tahrir, where crowds appeared to approach 300,000 after nightfall.

“I came here today because Morsi did not accomplish any of the (2011) revolution’s goals. I don’t need anything for myself, but the needs of the poor were not met.”

At the pro-Morsi rally at the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque, the crowd chanted, “God is great,” and some held up copies of Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

“The people hold the legitimacy and we support Dr. Mohamed Morsi,” Ahmed Ramadan, one of those at the rally said. “We would like to tell him not to be affected by the opponents’ protests and not to give up his rights we are here to support and protect him.”

Underlining the potential for deadly violence, a flurry of police reports on Sunday spoke of the seizure of firearms, explosives and even artillery shells in various locations of the country, including Alexandria and the outskirts of Cairo. Banks closed early and most government offices shut down on Sunday, a work day in Egypt.

The opposition protests emerge from a petition campaign by a youth activist group known as Tamarod, Arabic for “Rebel.” For several months, the group has been collecting signatures on a call for Morsi to step down.

On Saturday the group announced it had more than 22 million signatures — proof, it claims, that a broad sector of the public no longer wants Morsi in office.

It was not possible to verify the claim. If true, it would be nearly twice the around 13 million people who voted for Morsi in last year’s presidential run-off election, which he won with around 52 percent of the vote. Tamarod organizers said they discarded about 100,000 signed forms because they were duplicates.

Morsi’s supporters have questioned the authenticity and validity of the signatures, but have produced no evidence of fraud.

Adding to his troubles, eight lawmakers from the country’s interim legislature announced their resignation Saturday to protest Morsi’s policies. The 270-seat chamber was elected early last year by less than 10 percent of Egypt’s eligible voters, and is dominated by Islamists.

A legal adviser to Morsi also announced his resignation late Saturday in protest of what he said was Morsi’s insult of judges in his latest speech on Wednesday.

A week ago, with the public sense of worry growing over the upcoming confrontation, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi last week gave the president and his opponents a week to reach a compromise. He warned that the military would intervene to prevent the nation from entering a “dark tunnel.”

Army troops backed by armored vehicles were deployed Sunday in some of Cairo’s suburbs, with soldiers, some in combat gear, stood at traffic lights and major intersections. Army helicopters flew over Cairo on several occasions on Sunday, adding to the day’s sense of foreboding. The aircraft were loudly cheered every time they flew over Tahrir.

Morsi had called for national reconciliation talks in a Wednesday speech but offered no specifics. Opposition leaders dismissed the call as cosmetics.

Asked by The Guardian whether he was confident that the army would not intervene if the country becomes ungovernable, Morsi replied, “Very.”

The Egyptian leader, however, said he did not know in advance of el-Sissi’s comments last week.

____

AP reporters Tony G. Gabriel and Mariam Rizk contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Top Headlines

Crowds march in Egypt, pushing for Morsi removal