generalspeaking

From Pyramids to Barricades

Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

"I hope they [Morsi supporters] resort to reason", leaving before authorities move in, said Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt's interior minister. The disbanding of the sit-ins, he advised, will be carried out in gradual steps. As the prosecutors order, so will it be accomplished. Of course, reason and passion do not move in the same circles, and faith inspires emotion. It is not amenable to reason.

Gradual steps are required, most particularly, during those times when there are foreign visitors representing the European Union, viewing the proceedings. Guaranteeing, in a manner of speaking, that not too much in the way of violent confrontations emanating from the government side will erupt while they are present. That, at least, seems to be the thinking of the protesters.

Police have been ordered to clear out the two Cairo protest camps stuffed with Morsi supporters. They pose a threat to national security, and they were "terrorizing" citizens. Morse code, warning a crackdown is imminent and the heavily barricaded sit-ins - one in front of Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, the other across town close to the main Cairo University campus have been advised. Needless to say, more violence is anticipated.


Asked whether the Brotherhood had any plans to dissolve the protest themselves, or at the very least recommend that women and children depart for home, Gehad el-Haddad, calling the announcement a reflection of the rule of a "conspiratorial gang" -- fairly amusing considering the source -- said: "This is an open sit-in. We don't have control over the people. We don't have control over them. It is a free choice"; one that has been inspired by a challenge to their faith.

A passionate group of Muslim Brotherhood, Islamist-supporting Cairenes. Who have built brick barricades to ensure that anti-Morsi types will be kept at bay, while they mourn the departure of President Morsi who represented the democratic functionality of a Islamist government which has been unceremoniously and violently deposed.

And they simply won't have it, because they know their rights. Rights which are obviously at odds with the million or so Egyptians who marched in the opposite direction.

Police have their instructions; to end the protests "within the law and the constitution". Sooner rather than later. As the opportunity presents itself. Clarification through an Interior Ministry statement reveals that it plans to study "appropriate steps" in light of intelligence on the types of weapons in the possession of protesters. And whether foreigners are among them. Foreigners doubtless double-speak for members of the terrorist group Hamas; Brotherhood little brothers.

As for gradual steps; they might proceed with a warning to depart the area. Supported with the use of tear gas if protesters show no signs of leaving. And if all else fails, then pulling out some of the stops with the use of "legitimate self-defence", though it's doubtful whether that could be parsed to the satisfaction of Western onlookers, quite dissatisfied with proceedings up to the present, as it is.

Concomitantly, prosecutors have referred to trial three top Brotherhood leaders. In particular the Brotherhood's spiritual leader Mohammed Badie, for his incitement in the killing of anti-Morsi protesters in June. Mr. Badie's deputy Khairat el-Shater and senior Brotherhood leader Rashad Bayoumi are already in custody, accused in the deaths of eight protesters outside the Cairo headquarters of the Brotherhood by incitement.

Those issuing condemnatory accusations against General Abdel-Hassan el-Sissi to foreign media, Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, both Brotherhood leaders, have also had arrest warrants issued for their apprehension. Mohammed Ibraham has described the two protest encampments as a public endangerment. Police have discovered nine bodies nearby recently. Some of the dead had been tortured. By sit-in members who believed them to be spies, according to police.

Protesters have been offered "safe passage"; if they abandon their occupation they will be free of prosecution. For their part the protesters called on the outside world to rise up "in solidarity with the Egyptian people who are urged to gather in all Egyptian streets and squares, in all provinces, cities and villages." And this is precisely what will occur after Friday prayers. When they will have been urged to gather, the very same people whom Gehad-el-Haddad claimed not to have control over.

Labels: Conflict, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, August 01, 2013