Egypt turmoil: Morsi supporters defy removal threats Q&A: Egypt in turmoil

Egypt turmoil: Morsi supporters defy removal threats

 Jim Muir: "It's hard to see how this area can be cleared without further bloodshed"

Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi have defied threats of removal from their sit-in protest in Cairo, despite the deaths of dozens in clashes with security forces.

Speakers from the pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood addressed protesters overnight, saying they would not back down from their demands.
They want Mr Morsi - removed from power by the army on 3 July - reinstated.
But the interior minister has warned them they will "soon" be dispersed.
Meanwhile, the US has expressed deep concern at the bloodshed - the worst since Mr Morsi's ousting.
US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the violence and called on the Egyptian authorities to respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression
Passionate speeches Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad told the BBC that "hundreds and thousands of men, women and children" were engaged in the peaceful protest around the Rabaa al-Adawia mosque.
He said: "Regardless of what happens to the president, we will continue our protest. Our numbers are increasing every day. Citizens are recognising the tyranny and the long-term danger of the military coup".

The BBC's Yasmine Abu Khadra, at the scene in Cairo, says it is now quiet at the camp, although the camp has set up its own tight security, with barricades built.
She says that overnight, prominent leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood delivered passionate speeches to raise the morale of the crowd.
Our correspondent says the message was that the police and security forces felt threatened by the sit-in and that was why they had carried out the killings on Saturday.
The speakers said the crowd should not be afraid of the security forces as the protest was for a just cause.
The health ministry puts the death toll from the clashes on Saturday at 78, although doctors estimated that more than 100 people were killed.
Mr Haddad said three types of groups were to blame - "badly dressed thugs, police in three types of uniform and plain-clothed police".
He said the protesters would continue to demand Mr Morsi's reinstatement, adding: "It may take weeks, months, more than a year - we will still hold our ground."
Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim told the supporters to "come to their senses" and go home.
He said lawsuits filed by residents near a mosque provided legal cover for the clearance.
The government has denied that security forces fired live rounds on Saturday, only tear gas.
But the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Cairo says this appears to be untrue given the severity and number of injuries.
Two leading figures who backed the army's removal of Mr Morsi have condemned the killings.

Morsi supporters say they will not back down on demands for his reinstatement

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar mosque - the highest Sunni Muslim authority in Egypt - has called for an investigation, while the vice-president of the interim government, Mohamed ElBaradei, said that excessive force had been used.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that he was deeply concerned about the bloodshed.
"In this extremely volatile environment, Egyptian authorities have a moral and legal obligation to respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression," he said.
Saturday's clashes appear to have begun after some of the Morsi supporters tried to extend the barricades around their protest site, and the security forces responded.
Medics at a nearby field hospital told the BBC they believed about 70% of the casualties were caused by live fire - with many of the victims hit in the chest or head by snipers firing from rooftops.
'Premeditated murder' The army removed Mr Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, after mass protests against his rule and called on supporters to take to the streets to give its action a mandate.
Tens of thousands responded by flooding to Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday night.
Mr Morsi has been formally remanded in custody at an undisclosed location for an initial 15-day period, according to a judicial order.
He has been accused of the "premeditated murder of some prisoners, officers and soldiers" when he and several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were freed during a breakout at a Cairo prison in January 2011.
He is alleged to have plotted attacks on jails in the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.
Mr Morsi is also accused of conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip and has strong links with the Muslim Brotherhood.

 Dr Hesham Ibrahim says Saturday's scenes at the field hospital were like "hell"

 

There was a time in Egypt when many hailed "one hand", one square, one people rising up to make their own history. 

               That one-ness is no more.

 

In Egypt today, a people pulls apart, two public spaces in Cairo are seething, and many hands are now said to be at work.
In the iconic Tahrir Square, where protesters played a key role in ousting President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, "one hand" now includes the army which ousted the elected President Mohammed Morsi last week.
In this famous gathering space, green laser lights and fireworks are now on sale to celebrate what banners emphatically proclaim was "not a coup" but the biggest demonstration in Egypt's history to put democracy back on track.

Adly Mansour's transition timeline

• Panel formed within 15 days to review constitution
• Constitutional amendments to be finalised and put to referendum in four months
• Parliamentary elections to be held by early 2014
• Presidential elections to be called once new parliament convenes

• Profile: Adly Mahmud Mansour
• Q&A: Egypt in turmoil
• Regional concern over Egypt unrest

In eastern Cairo, in tented encampments plastered with Morsi photographs around the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, people are selling thick bamboo sticks which they insist are for self-defence against soldiers and police.
A widening array of makeshift stalls are also selling hot and cold drinks, hats for protection against a scorching sun, and food of all sorts to cater to a fast-growing community of protesters, mainly Muslim Brotherhood supporters, who say they are not leaving until their elected president is reinstated.
About a kilometre away, there is a tense stand-off around the Republican Guard Officers' Club. More than 50 people were killed and hundreds injured there on Monday, when soldiers and police opened fire at dawn just before morning prayers.
There is no agreement on what happened there either.
Army spokesman Col Ahmed Ali told a news conference that security forces had no choice but to open fire. "We had to respond," he insisted, giving details of "snipers behind buildings" and "armed groups attacking the area" as well as security forces.
Dialogue 'impossible' When that press conference was being broadcast live on Egyptian and international media, the large crowds milling around the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque chanting angry slogans against a "massacre" did not pay attention.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Nasr City: "Protesters say they are not going anywhere until Mohammed Morsi is reinstated"

I asked a spokesman for what is called the Legitimacy Coalition, Ahmad al-Nashar, whether they would consider this detailed account by the security forces.
"Definitely not," he declared. "We were there. We have our own films that show they opened fire on civilians who were praying."
In a sense, what matters most now is not what happened but what people believe. It is what drives a deepening sense of anger and injustice in two rival camps.
And the battles over what should happen next are just as difficult, and dangerous.
Talks behind closed doors also suffered a major setback with this latest violence. The Salafist Nour party, the second largest Islamist force, also condemned "a massacre" and pulled out of protracted negotiations over a new caretaker prime minister and cabinet.
The presence of Islamists alongside an array of more liberal forces had strengthened the argument that this was a popular move against an increasingly unpopular president.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Nasr City: "Protesters say they are not going anywhere until Mohammed Morsi is reinstated"

I asked a spokesman for what is called the Legitimacy Coalition, Ahmad al-Nashar, whether they would consider this detailed account by the security forces.
"Definitely not," he declared. "We were there. We have our own films that show they opened fire on civilians who were praying."
In a sense, what matters most now is not what happened but what people believe. It is what drives a deepening sense of anger and injustice in two rival camps.
And the battles over what should happen next are just as difficult, and dangerous.
Talks behind closed doors also suffered a major setback with this latest violence. The Salafist Nour party, the second largest Islamist force, also condemned "a massacre" and pulled out of protracted negotiations over a new caretaker prime minister and cabinet.
The presence of Islamists alongside an array of more liberal forces had strengthened the argument that this was a popular move against an increasingly unpopular president.

Calls for reconciliation are echoing in a flurry of statements, everywhere from the army, to the liberal National Salvation Front, to the influential Al-Azhar mosque.

But Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad, one of its few leading members who has not been detained, told the BBC dialogue was impossible while Mohammad Morsi was detained, and deposed.

'He failed us'

There was never a true meeting of minds among the diverse forces who came together to end decades of authoritarian rule in 2011. Now, even meetings seem impossible.

There is a struggle to claim the mantle of a revolution that has made for awkward bedfellows.

In Tahrir Square this week, I saw two policemen in sparkling white uniforms, smiling and at ease, in the front row next to the stage where nationalistic songs were blasting from speakers.

That would have been unthinkable in 2011 when the police were widely reviled, and forced to retreat, even from the streets.

And there are also warnings of counter-revolution too with elements of the former Mubarak regime accused of cloaking themselves in the symbols of the revolution to return to their power and privileges.

"It's a public space so it can be used by anyone," remarked Egyptian journalist and author of Liberation Square Ashraf Khalil, as we stood on the edge of a huge exuberant crowd.

But in Tahrir I also met Egyptians who had come to the square for the very first time because they felt so strongly that Mohammed Morsi's rule had betrayed any hope for democracy in Egypt.

"I came to help my country Egypt," Amr, a lecturer and veterinarian told me.

His friend next to him, who voted for Mohammed Morsi, chimed in: "He failed us. I came here to support the revolution."

The military has been trailing the colours of the Egyptian flag through the skies of the capital

But it is not just the revolution which is now in danger.

In an interview just hours before this latest tragic shooting, Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was already emphasising that "the most pressing concern for us is for violence to stop, order to be restored, and for security forces to avoid excessive use of force".

But now the Muslim Brotherhood publicly calls for Egyptians to rise up "against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks", and there are dark warnings of vigilante groups, criminal mobs, and more extreme Islamist groupings who never truly trusted the slogan "democracy is the answer".

In the midst of the mounting tension, there is still one thing which unites all squares, and most forces. Wherever crowds gather, a human canvas is dotted with Egypt's distinctive tricolour flag.

Egypt's air force has been flying the flag too - literally. Plumes of red, black and white smoke have been streaking from jets screeching across the skies above Tahrir and Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.

But as a people pull apart, fear grows not just about saving a revolution, but a country too.

Q&A: Egypt in turmoil

Egypt has been thrown into turmoil once again, after the army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi a year after his election.

What led up to the latest crisis?

During Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's first year in office, he fell out with key institutions and sectors of society, and was seen by many Egyptians as doing little to tackle economic and social problems.
Egypt became polarised between Mr Morsi's Islamist supporters and their opponents, who include leftists, liberals and secularists.
On 30 June 2013 millions took to the streets to mark the first anniversary of the president's inauguration, in a protest organised by the Tamarod (Revolt) movement.
The protests prompted the military to warn President Morsi on 1 July that it would intervene and impose its own "roadmap" if he did not satisfy the public's demands within 48 hours.
As the deadline approached, Mr Morsi insisted that he was Egypt's legitimate leader. He warned that any effort to remove him by force could plunge the country into chaos.
However, late on 3 July the head of the armed forces, Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, announced that the constitution had been suspended and that Chief Justice Adly Mansour would oversee an interim period with a technocratic government until presidential and parliamentary elections are held.
Several of Egypt's most influential figures gave their approval to the ousting of Mohammed Morsi. They included Egypt's highest Islamic authority the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, the head of the Christian Coptic Church, leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, and the hard-line Salafist Nour party.
Troops backed by armoured vehicles secured key sites in the capital, Cairo, as hundreds of thousands of opposition protesters and Mr Morsi's Islamic supporters took to the streets.

Who is Mohammed Morsi and what has happened to him?

Mohammed Morsi rose through the ranks of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that was banned for decades, becoming chairman of its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party.
He narrowly won the presidential vote in June 2012, becoming Egypt's first democratically elected president. That election, which was generally considered free and fair, followed a turbulent period of military rule after long-time leader Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011.
Since he was ousted, Mr Morsi has been under arrest at an undisclosed location.
Several other senior figures from the Muslim Brotherhood have also been detained, including its powerful deputy leader Khairat al-Shater who is accused of inciting violence.

What has happened since the military takeover?

Mr Morsi's supporters have held almost daily rallies demanding his re-instatement, with the Presidential Guard headquarters in Cairo being a particular flashpoint, as many believe this is where Mr Morsi is being held.
Speaking after the deaths of at least 51 people outside the Presidential Guard HQ on 8 July, the Freedom and Justice Party called for "an uprising" against "those trying to steal their revolution with tanks".
Anti-Morsi protesters have also been taking to the streets. Gen Sisi encouraged them to turn out on 26 July to give the army a "mandate to confront possible violence and terrorism".
About 160 people have been killed in demonstrations and confrontations with the security forces in Egypt since 28 June 2013, according to Egyptian media and officials sources.

What will happen next?

Gen Sisi said Mr Mansour would take charge during a "transitional period until a new president is elected".
Mr Mansour has laid out plans for a transition including a review of the constitution backed by Mr Morsi and fresh parliamentary elections in early 2014. The plan has been rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood and also criticised by leftist and liberal parties.
Gen Sisi has promised "not to exclude anyone or any movement" and called for measures to "empower youths and integrate them in state institutions".
However, he did not define the length of the transitional period or what role the military would play.
The military is the most powerful government entity, and many say it operates like a state within a state. Military-owned businesses make up a significant proportion of Egypt's economy.