bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Egypt’s cabinet on Wednesday ordered a police crackdown on protests by ousted president Mohammed Mursi’s loyalists, as European envoys headed for Cairo to try to ease tensions between the army-installed government and Islamists.
The order to the interior minister raised the prospect of a dangerous showdown just days after 82 people were killed at a pro-Mursi protest in Cairo.
It came as diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful way out of Egypt’s crisis gathered pace, with the EU and Germany sending envoys to urge a peaceful resolution to the stand-off.
Adding to the tensions, judicial sources said prosecutors had referred to trial the Muslim Brotherhood’s fugitive supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, for allegedly inciting the killing of protesters.
The cabinet’s announcement came in a statement that said pro-Mursi protest camps at two Cairo squares posed a “threat to national security”.
It added: “The continuation of the dangerous situation in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, and consequent terrorism and road blockages, are no longer acceptable given the threat to national security.”
The Islamists, camped out for weeks calling for the reinstatement of Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, reacted defiantly.
The coalition of Islamists behind the protests called for a mass rally on Friday.
“Nothing will change,” Gehad El-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman for the coalition, said, dismissing the cabinet order as an “attempt to terrorise Egyptians”.
Washington also expressed concern, urging Egypt to “respect the right of peaceful assemblies”.
“That obviously includes sit-ins,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for “an urgent end to the current bloodshed” and the release of Mursi, in a phone call to Egypt’s interim vice president Mohamed ElBaradei, Britain’s Foreign Office said.
Amnesty International denounced the cabinet order as a “recipe for further bloodshed”.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for Amnesty’s Middle East section, said: “Given the Egyptian security forces’ record of policing demonstrations with the routine use of excessive and unwarranted lethal force, this latest announcement gives a seal of approval to further abuse.”
In Rabaa al-Adawiya, the mood was calm after the announcement. Thousands of people have been camped out in a protest tent city at the square.
The interior ministry had already warned that the demonstrations would be dispersed “soon”, but without saying when or how.
Foreign trade minister Munir Fakhry Abdel Nur said on Wednesday’s statement did not “give room for interpretation”.
Accusing the Mursi supporters of bearing arms, he said: “It is clear the interior ministry has been given the green light to take the necessary measures within legal grounds.”
Confrontations between Mursi loyalists and security forces have turned increasingly deadly, with 82 people killed in clashes with police on Saturday morning.
And at least 51 people were killed in earlier violence between demonstrators and soldiers outside Cairo’s Republican Guard headquarters.
Brotherhood leaders, including supreme guide Badie, who is in hiding, are facing charges related to violence that preceded Mursi’s ouster.
On Wednesday, judicial sources said Badie and jailed deputies Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi had been referred to trial for inciting the killing of demonstrators, further weakening the already dim prospects for talks between the two sides.
The allegations relate to the deaths of protesters outside Brotherhood headquarters on the night of June 30.

Mursi himself has been detained on suspicion of involvement in prison breaks and the killing of policemen during the 2011 revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.
The international community is stepping up efforts for a peaceful resolution to Egypt’s stand-off.
An EU spokesman said Wednesday the bloc’s Middle East envoy, Bernardino Leon, would be in Cairo later to continue mediation efforts. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle arrived in Cairo on Wednesday evening.
In Washington, Senator Lindsey Graham said he and fellow Republican John McCain would head to Cairo next week at the White House’s request.
President Barack Obama’s administration has refrained from calling Mursi’s overthrow a coup, a designation that would require the United States to halt its US$1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt.
On Wednesday, the Senate easily rejected a bid to end assistance by 86 votes to 14.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton left Cairo on Tuesday after her own mediation bid, but there was no indication her meetings had brought compromise any closer.
She met with several officials from the military-installed interim government and the opposition, as well as Mursi.
Her meeting with him at a secret location was the ousted leader’s first announced visit, though the presidency said on Wednesday that an African Union delegation had also met Mursi.
“Mursi is well,” she told reporters after the two-hour meeting with Mursi.
“He has access to information in terms of TV, newspapers, so we were able to talk about the situation and we were able to talk about the need to move forward.”


Egypt presidential election: no surprises in store as Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi eyes 3rd term

Egypt’s Sisi announces run for third term

Sparring presidents Erdogan and el-Sisi shake hands as they meet in Qatar for first time

Sheikh Qaradawi, Islamist champion of Arab revolts, critic of 9/11 attacks, dies at 96

Mohammed Mursi

Egypt cabinet orders police to end pro-Mursi sit-in 

Women supporting ousted president Mohammed Mursi attend a protest near Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. Photo: EPA

Activists from a group called Third Square protest both parties at Sphinx Square in Cairo. Photo: Reuters

Egyptian supporters of Mohammed Mursi break their fast as they take part in the ongoing sit-in in Cairo. Photo: AFP

News

World