Thursday, 6 December 2012
An Egyptian protester wears an
eye patch during an anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstration outside the
presidential palace, in Cairo (AP)
More pictures
Egypt has descended into political turmoil over the
constitution drafted by Islamist allies of President Mohammed Morsi,
with at least 211 people wounded as supporters and opponents battled
outside the presidential palace.Four more presidential aides resigned
in protest over Mr Morsi's handling of the crisis and a key opponent of
the Islamist president likened his rule to that of ousted authoritarian
leader Hosni Mubarak.
Both sides were digging in for a long struggle, with the opposition vowing more protests and rejecting any dialogue unless the charter was rescinded, and Mr Morsi pressing forward relentlessly with plans for a December 15 constitutional referendum. "The solution is to go to the ballot box," declared Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, asserting the charter was "the best constitution Egypt ever had".
Wednesday's clashes outside the presidential palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district marked an escalation in the deepening crisis. It was the first time supporters of rival camps fought each other since last year's anti-Mubarak uprising, when the authoritarian leader's loyalists sent sword-wielding supporters on horses and camels into Cairo's Tahrir square in what became one of the uprising's bloodiest days.
The large scale and intensity of the fighting marked a milestone in Egypt's rapidly entrenched schism, pitting Mr Morsi's Brotherhood and ultra-conservative Islamists in one camp, against liberals, leftists and Christians in the other.
The violence spread to other parts of the country later. Anti-Morsi protesters stormed and set ablaze the Brotherhood offices in Suez and Ismailia, east of Cairo, and there were clashes in the industrial city of Mahallah and the province of Menoufiyah in the Nile Delta north of the capital.
Compounding Mr Morsi's woes, four of his advisers resigned, joining two other members of his 17-member advisory panel who have abandoned him since the crisis began.
Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition reform advocate, said Mr Morsi's rule was "no different" than Mubarak's. "In fact, it is perhaps even worse," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told a news conference after he accused the president's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the palace. "Cancel the constitutional declarations, postpone the referendum, stop the bloodshed, and enter a direct dialogue with the national forces," he said on his Twitter account, addressing Mr Morsi. "History will give no mercy and the people will not forget."
The opposition is demanding that Mr Morsi rescind the decrees giving him nearly unrestricted powers and shelve the controversial draft constitution the president's Islamist allies rushed through last week in a marathon, all-night session shown live on state TV.
Speaking at Nato in Brussels, US secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the unrest showed the urgent need for dialogue between Mr Morsi's government and opposing voices on a constitutional path going forward. "We call on all stakeholders in Egypt to settle their differences through democratic dialogue and we call on Egypt's leaders to ensure that the outcome protects the democratic promise of the revolution for all of Egypt's citizens," she said.
Both sides were digging in for a long struggle, with the opposition vowing more protests and rejecting any dialogue unless the charter was rescinded, and Mr Morsi pressing forward relentlessly with plans for a December 15 constitutional referendum. "The solution is to go to the ballot box," declared Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, asserting the charter was "the best constitution Egypt ever had".
Wednesday's clashes outside the presidential palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district marked an escalation in the deepening crisis. It was the first time supporters of rival camps fought each other since last year's anti-Mubarak uprising, when the authoritarian leader's loyalists sent sword-wielding supporters on horses and camels into Cairo's Tahrir square in what became one of the uprising's bloodiest days.
The large scale and intensity of the fighting marked a milestone in Egypt's rapidly entrenched schism, pitting Mr Morsi's Brotherhood and ultra-conservative Islamists in one camp, against liberals, leftists and Christians in the other.
The violence spread to other parts of the country later. Anti-Morsi protesters stormed and set ablaze the Brotherhood offices in Suez and Ismailia, east of Cairo, and there were clashes in the industrial city of Mahallah and the province of Menoufiyah in the Nile Delta north of the capital.
Compounding Mr Morsi's woes, four of his advisers resigned, joining two other members of his 17-member advisory panel who have abandoned him since the crisis began.
Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition reform advocate, said Mr Morsi's rule was "no different" than Mubarak's. "In fact, it is perhaps even worse," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told a news conference after he accused the president's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the palace. "Cancel the constitutional declarations, postpone the referendum, stop the bloodshed, and enter a direct dialogue with the national forces," he said on his Twitter account, addressing Mr Morsi. "History will give no mercy and the people will not forget."
The opposition is demanding that Mr Morsi rescind the decrees giving him nearly unrestricted powers and shelve the controversial draft constitution the president's Islamist allies rushed through last week in a marathon, all-night session shown live on state TV.
Speaking at Nato in Brussels, US secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the unrest showed the urgent need for dialogue between Mr Morsi's government and opposing voices on a constitutional path going forward. "We call on all stakeholders in Egypt to settle their differences through democratic dialogue and we call on Egypt's leaders to ensure that the outcome protects the democratic promise of the revolution for all of Egypt's citizens," she said.
Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/mob-battles-as-egypt-crisis-grows-16247026.html#ixzz2EF97smFm
