At least 9 dead in clashes following Morsy ouster
Millions of anti-Morsi protesters around the country erupted in celebrations after the televised announcement by the army chief. Fireworks burst over crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where men and women danced, shouting, “God is great” and “Long live Egypt.”
Fearing a violent reaction by Morsi’s Islamist supporters, troops and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of Cairo and elsewhere, surrounding Islamist rallies. Clashes erupted in several provincial cities when Islamists opened fire on police, with at least nine people killed, security officials said.
Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood party, said Morsi was under house arrest at a Presidential Guard facility where he had been residing, and 12 presidential aides also were under house arrest.
The army took control of state media and blacked out TV stations operated by the Muslim Brotherhood. The head of the Brotherhood’s political wing was arrested.
The ouster of Morsi throws Egypt on an uncertain course, with a danger of further confrontation. It came after four days of mass demonstrations even larger than those of the 2011 Arab Spring that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptians were angered that Morsi was giving too much power to his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists and had failed to tackle the country’s mounting economic woes.
US President Hussein Obama called on the army to hand back control to civilians as soon as possible, but stopped short of calling it a coup, which would require him to suspend aid.
He said he was “deeply concerned” by the military’s move to topple Morsi’s government and suspend Egypt’s constitution. He said he was ordering the U.S. government to assess what the military’s actions meant for U.S. foreign aid to Egypt — $1.5 billion a year in military and economic assistance.
In a speech immediately before the army's ultimatum expired, Morsy did call it a coup.The U.S. wasn’t taking sides in the conflict, committing itself only to democracy and respect for the rule of law, Obama said.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Cairo, Christian Copts, Egyptian army, Egyptian democracy, Egyptian regime change, Egyptian Revolution, Mohamed ElBaradei, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:24 AM
2 Comments:
Of course it's not a coup!
It's hope and change.
Obama will struggle with this because legally he can't give aid to a country overthrown by the Army. They have to call it a revolution.
Post a Comment
<< Home