At least one killed as anti-Mursi protests flare outside Cairo’s presidential palace

Wednesday, 05 December 2012

Demonstrators run away from tear gas outside the Egyptian Presidential Palace's main gate during a demonstration on Tuesday. (AFP)

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By Al Arabiya with agencies

First death reported in Egypt as clashes exploded Wednesday night between supporters and foes of President Mohamed Mursi outside the presidential palace.

Stones and Molotov cocktail bombs flew around, and gunshots were heard as supporters of Mursi fought protesters outside the palace in Cairo, according to Al Arabiya’s correspondent.

The clashes started escalating even after Egypt’s vice president, speaking at a news conference from inside the palace, proposed a way to end a crisis over a draft constitution that has split the most populous Arab nation.

Three members of Mursi’s presidential advisory council announced the resignation over crisis, reported Al Arabiya. The members are Seif Abdel Fattah, Ayman al-Sayyad and Amr al-Leithy.

In the same vain, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s powerful al-Azhar Mosque Dr. Ahmed el-Tayyeb urged Egyptians for dialogue after Wednesday’s clashes.

Conditions flared up on Wednesday after Mursi’s supporters, who had flocked to the palace in response to a call from the Muslim Brotherhood, scuffled with the president’s opponents, hurling stones and other objects at each other.

Two Islamists were hit in the legs by what their friends said were bullets fired during the clashes in streets around the compound in northern Cairo, according to Reuters. One of them was bleeding heavily.

Riot police began to deploy between the two sides to try to end the violence which flared after dark despite an attempt by Vice President Mahmoud Mekky to calm the political crisis.

He said amendments to disputed articles in the draft constitution could be agreed with the opposition. A written agreement could then be submitted to the next parliament, to be elected after a referendum on the constitution on Dec. 15.

“There must be consensus,” he told a news conference, saying opposition demands must be respected to overcome the crisis.

Opposition leader Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister and secretary-general of the Arab League, said Mursi should make a formal offer for dialogue if his opponents were to consider seriously Mekky’s ideas for a way out of the political impasse.

“We are ready when there is something formal, something expressed in definite terms, we will not ignore it,” Moussa told Reuters during talks with other opposition figures.

Opposition leaders have previously urged Mursi to retract a decree widening his powers, defer the plebiscite and agree to revise the constitution, but have not echoed calls from street protesters for his overthrow and the “downfall of the regime."

Under Siege

Mursi had returned to work at his compound a day after it came under siege from protesters furious at his assumption of extraordinary powers via an edict on Nov. 22.

The president, narrowly elected by popular vote in June, said he acted to stop courts still full of judges appointed by ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak from derailing a constitution meant to complete a political transition in Egypt, long an ally of Washington and signatory to a 1979 peace deal with Israel.

Rival groups skirmished earlier outside the presidential palace on Wednesday. Islamist supporters of Mursi tore down tents erected by leftist foes, who had begun a sit-in there.

“They hit us and destroyed our tents. Are you happy, Mursi? Aren’t we Egyptians too?” asked protester Haitham Ahmed.

Mohamed Mohy, a pro-Mursi demonstrator who was filming the scene, said: “We are here to support our president and his decisions and save our country from traitors and agents.”

Facing the gravest crisis of his six-month-old tenure, Mursi has shown no sign of buckling, confident that Islamists can win the referendum and a parliamentary election to follow.

Many Egyptians yearn for an end to political upheaval that has scared off investors and tourists, damaging the economy.

Mekky said street mobilization by both sides posed a “real danger” to Egypt. “If we do not put a stop to this phenomenon right away ... where are we headed? We must calm down.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed into Egypt’s political debate, saying dialogue was urgently needed on the new constitution, which should “respect the rights of all citizens”.

Clinton and Mursi worked together last month to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip.

“It needs to be a two-way dialogue ... among Egyptians themselves about the constitutional process and the substance of the constitution,” Clinton told a news conference in Brussels.

Washington is worried about rising Islamist power in Egypt, a staunch U.S. security partner under Mubarak.

Egyptian opposition alliance says Mursi responsible for violence

Wednesday, 05 December 2012

Egyptian politicians Hamdeen Sabahy(L), Mohamed ElBaradei (C) and Amr Moussa (R) speaking on Wednesday at the opposition alliance’s conference. (Al Arabiya)

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By Al Arabiya with Reuters

Egypt’s opposition coalition blamed President Mohamed Mursi for violence outside his palace on Wednesday and said it was ready for dialogue if the Islamist leader scrapped a decree that gave him extraordinary powers.

Clashes erupted after the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that helped Mursi win a presidential election in June, told its supporters to go to the palace where opponents were protesting against the president’s powers and against a draft constitution that they say is biased.

“Today what is happening in the Egyptian street, polarization and division, is something that could and is actually drawing us to violence and could draw us to something worse,” said opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei.

“We hold President Mursi and his government completely responsible for the violence that is happening in Egypt today,” said ElBaradei, coordinator of the National Salvation Front alliance.

Protests began after Mursi issued a decree on Nov. 22 that expanded his powers. He fuelled opposition anger further by racing through approval of a draft constitution, drawn up by an Islamist-led assembly, for a referendum in the middle of December.

“Our opinion was, and still is, that we are ready for dialogue if the constitutional decree is cancelled ... and the referendum on this constitution is postponed,” ElBaradei said.

He said Mursi should appear on television to say he accepts the “foundations of dialogue.”

Another opposition politician Hamdeen Sabahy said at the news conference, attended by senior figures in the alliance, that Mursi had lost his “moral legitimacy,” saying Mursi was “pushing Egypt towards division that may lead to civil conflict.”

Conditions flared up on Wednesday after Mursi’s supporters scuffled with the president’s opponents, hurling stones and other objects at each other outside the presidential palace in Cairo.

Riot police began to deploy between the two sides to try to end the violence which increased despite an attempt by Vice President Mahmoud Mekky to calm the political crisis.

He said amendments to disputed articles in the draft constitution could be agreed with the opposition. A written agreement could then be submitted to the next parliament, to be elected after a referendum on the constitution on Dec. 15.

“There must be consensus,” he told a news conference, saying opposition demands must be respected to overcome the crisis.

Deaths reported amid Cairo violence

05/12 19:58 CET

Related

• Cairo gripped by anti-Mursi protests 04/12/2012 19:56 CET
• Egypt faces snap referendum as anti-Mursi protests… 01/12/2012 09:23 CET
• Egyptian anger spreads beyond Cairo 28/11/2012 05:35 CET
• Cairo protesters refuse to move over Mursi’s power… 26/11/2012 13:15 CET
• Protests in Egypt continue 25/11/2012 13:15 CET

Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi have been brawling outside the presidential palace in Cairo.
Petrol bombs were thrown along with stones and other objects and there were reports of shots fired.
Local TV channels reported two deaths and around a dozen serious injuries.
The president’s backers tore down the tents of those who had organised a sit-in against Mursi’s expanded powers and draft constitution.
Despite growing protests Egypt’s Vice President Mahmoud Mekki insists a referendum on the constitution will go ahead as planned in just over a weeks time.
Facing the gravest crisis of his six-month tenure, Mohammed Mursi claims he is acting to prevent the courts, still full of appointees from the Hosni Mubarak era, from derailing Egypt’s political transition.
He says he will give up his new powers once the new constitution is ratified.
More about: Cairo, Clashes and riots, Egypt, Mohamed Mursi

Copyright © 2012 euronews

Fresh clashes erupt near Egypt's presidential palace

Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi clashed at the presidential palace in Cairo for a second day on Wednesday, deepening the political crisis over expanded presidential powers and a controversial draft constitution.

By FRANCE 24 (text)

 

Clashes erupted for a second day on Wednesday after the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs President Mohammed Morsi, told its supporters to go to the presidential palace where hundreds have been protesting against Morsi's expanded powers and a controversial draft constitution.
Thousands of Morsi supporters descended on the area around the palace where opponents were staging a sit-in. Members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood chased the protesters away from their base outside the palace’s main gate and tore down their tents. The protesters scattered, taking to side streets from where they chanted anti-Morsi slogans.
At least 211 people have been injured so far, the health ministry said.

EGYPT ‘New pharaoh’ Morsi confronts pyramid of woes

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil called for calm around the presidential palace on Wednesday “to give a chance to efforts being made [for] national dialogue”.
After a lull in the fighting, hundreds of young Morsi opponents began throwing firebombs at the president’s backers, who responded by throwing rocks. Witnesses said they saw several protesters with blood streaming down their faces.
Opposition groups said they were also calling on their supporters to head to the palace. A day earlier, police fired teargas at up to 10,000 demonstrators who surrounded the palace in what they called “last warning” protests against Morsi.
Morsi 'responsible for the violence'
The duelling demonstrations are part of a political crisis that has left the country divided between Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood Islamists and an opposition that includes youth groups, liberal parties and secularist sectors of the public. Both sides have dug in their heels, signalling what could be a protracted standoff.

ANALYSIS EGYPT Egypt's Morsi: statesman abroad, a ‘pharaoh’ at home?

Protests began soon after Morsi issued a November 22 decree that expanded his powers, placing him beyond the reach of the judiciary. He then fuelled opposition anger by pushing through the approval of a draft constitution that was drawn up by an Islamist-led assembly. The draft is set for a public referendum on December 15.
"We hold President Mursi and his government completely responsible for the violence happening in Egypt today," opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference, describing Morsi’s rule as “no different” from that of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak.
"We are ready for dialogue if the constitutional decree is cancelled ... and the referendum on this constitution is postponed," said ElBaradei, who heads the National Salvation Front alliance.
Three members of Morsi’s advisory team resigned on Wednesday over the crisis, according to presidential sources. Seif Abdel Fattah, Ayman al-Sayyad and Amr al-Leithy have tendered their resignations, bringing to six the number of presidential staff who have quit in the row over the decree.
(FRANCE 24 with wires)

Egypt erupts as Muslim Brotherhood supporters clash with protesters

President Morsi accused of 'vicious and deliberate' attack as activists killed in Cairo and more than 300 injured

Abdel-Rahman Hussein in Cairo

The Guardian, Wednesday 5 December 2012 23.51 GMT
 

A wounded protester outside the presidential palace in Cairo after a clash between supporters and opponents of President Morsi. Photograph: Mostafa Elshemy/AP

Egypt has been rocked by further clashes between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government of Mohamed Morsi and opposition activists.
Four people were reported to have been killed and more than 300 people injured in Cairo during the violence which centred on the district around the presidential palace. The interior ministry said at least 32 people had been arrested and three police vehicles destroyed.
In the city of Ismailia, east of Cairo, protesters set alight the headquarters of Morsi's Freedom and Justice party which is dominated by the Brotherhood.
Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition advocate of reform, accused Morsi's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack against peaceful demonstrators.
"We hold President Morsi and his government completely responsible for the violence that is happening in Egypt today," he said.
"A regime that is not able to protect its people and is siding with his own sect, [and] thugs is a regime that lost its legitimacy and is leading Egypt into violence and bloodshed."
The opposition National Salvation Front, which ElBaradei is part of, is demanding Morsi rescind decrees giving him near unrestricted powers and shelve a disputed draft constitution that his Muslim Brotherhood allies passed last week.
The opposition says dialogue on Egypt's future can only begin once the decree has been rescinded. The decrees grant Morsi judicial immunity in all decisions and extended this legal protection to the constitutional assembly and the upper house of parliament, the shura council. Morsi has always insisted that it is a temporary measure that will automatically rescind when a constitution is passed.
The clashes in Cairo began after the vice-president, Mahmoud Mekki, spoke to the press to say that there would be no backing down by Morsi. But in a conciliatory gesture he added that amendments to disputed articles in the draft constitution could be agreed with the opposition.
A written agreement could then be submitted to the next parliament, to be elected after a referendum on the constitution on 15 December, he said.
Shortly after, the president's supporters moved against the opposition activists camped outside the presidential palace and the clashes, which lasted late into the night began. Witnesses said the two sides threw petrol bombs and stones at each other.
Mina Nader, an anti-Morsi protester, said: "The Brotherhood must be dragged in the streets like dogs, there is no salvation without blood after what they have done. Morsi must fall." Other protesters were heard chanting: "The people want the fall of the regime." Morsi's supporters shouted back: "Defending Morsi is defending Islam."
Earlier in the day three members of Morsi's advisory team resigned over the crisis. Seif Abdel Fattah, Ayman al-Sayyad and Amr al-Leithy all tendered their resignations, bringing to six the number of presidential staff who have quit in the wake of a decree that has triggered countrywide violence.
The previously announced resignations included a Christian and a woman. They were part of a presidential staff assembled by Morsi in an effort to build an inclusive administration. State institutions, with the partial exception of the judiciary, have mostly fallen in behind Morsi.
The army, the muscle behind all previous Egyptian presidents in the republic's six-decade history, has gone back to barracks, having apparently lost its appetite to intervene in politics.
The US, worried about the stability of a state that has a peace deal with Israel and to which it gives $1.3bn in military aid each year, called for dialogue. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton said dialogue was urgently needed on the new constitution, which should "respect the rights of all citizens". Clinton and Morsi worked together last month to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, called for restraint on all sides. He said Egypt's authorities had to make progress on the transition in an "inclusive manner" and urged dialogue. "We call on the Egyptian authorities to make progress on transition in an inclusive manner, which allows for a constructive exchange of views.
"We urge all parties to resolve their differences through a process of dialogue which allows all voices to be heard.

Violent clashes at Presidential Palace

Photographer: 

Alaa al-Kamhawi

Capture Date

Wed, 05/12/2012 (All day)

Violent clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsy in front of Presidential Palace in Heliopolis, Cairo, 5 December 2012.

Violence spreads outside of capital

MENA

Wed, 05/12/2012 - 21:08

Hazem Gouda

Angry demonstrations took place in governorates outside of Cairo Wednesday, with polarization between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsy escalating into violent clashes in Alexandria, Suez and Mahalla, and attempts to burn Muslim Brotherhood headquarters across the nation.

Dozens stormed the Muslim Brotherhood office in the city of Ismailia, Ismailia Governorate, Wednesday night. After a march in the city, protesters against the clashes at the presidential palace in Cairo set the office ablaze.

The protest consisted of different revolutionary groups and political parties who chanted slogans calling for “toppling the regime.”

Also in Zagazig, the capital of the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya, anonymous attackers threw Molotov cocktails at the group’s office. Only the banner of the office and two cars were burnt before firefighters extinguished the fire.

Mohamed Abdel Raouf, a former FJP parliamentarian, said that the attempt to burn the office came after dozens of anti-Morsy protesters marched by the office.

In Alexandria, Muslim Brotherhood protesters clashed with anti-Morsy protesters near the railway station of Sidi Gaber.

Some 3,000 from the Brotherhood started a march at Al-Qaed Ibrahim mosque heading to Sidi Gaber area, where 4,000 of Morsy opponents were gathered.

Security forces withdraw completely from the scene, after the Brotherhood protesters chanted slogans against them.

The anti-Morsy activists blocked the road, causing traffic jams. Protesters denounced what they called “Brotherhood militias” for attacking the protesters and removing their tents from outside the presidential palace in Cairo.

Ayman Mahmoud, a protester, told the website of the state-run daily Al-Ahram that the Egyptian people would not accept the Brotherhood militias controlling power in Egypt. “They beat the protesters with bladed weapons and firearms,” he said.

Ahmed Ali, activist participating in the protest, urged the state agencies to protect the protesters from the Brotherhood militias and save the country from a possible civil war.

Fire gutted the Suez headquarters of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, as a result of clashes between members of the party and the Brotherhood and opponents of Morsy. The building was entirely destroyed by the fire.

The clashes started with both sides throwing stones at each other, injuring eight people.
In Damanhour, capital of Beheira governorate, demonstrations were also held to reject the Constitutional Declaration and protest President Morsy ignoring the crisis outside the presidential palace in Cairo, where the Brotherhood attacked protesters.
The demonstrators demanded Morsy to stop or postpone the referendum on the draft constitution scheduled on 15 December.

Both parties exchanged hurling stones, while anti-Morsy protesters accused members of the Muslim Brotherhood group of assaulting protesters at the presidential palace.

The police intensified presence in the vicinity of the party headquarters, which were dark and empty, and the protesters refused to move the demonstration elsewhere.

In Mahalla, trains coming from and going to Alexandria were stopped when demonstrators lit rubber tires on the railway tracks in protest against the clashes.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against President Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood and the supreme guide, and demanded the cancellation of Morsy’s recent decisions.

Edited translation from MENA