Egypt Authorities Prepare to Break Up Pro-Morsi Sit-Ins

Egyptian authorities charged the top Muslim Brotherhood leader with inciting murder and ordered an end to sit-ins by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, moves that risk escalating a showdown with the Islamist group.

The Interior Ministry was assigned to take steps against protests in Cairo that have persisted since Morsi’s ouster by the army on July 3, the military-backed cabinet said yesterday in a statement. Defying the government, Morsi supporters are calling for more protests tomorrow, Al Jazeera reported.

The cabinet’s decision raised the prospect of fanning the violence that has spread since Morsi’s overthrow after mass rallies against him. Dozens of his supporters were killed in clashes with security forces in Cairo last weekend. The Brotherhood and its allies have pledged to continue the sit-ins until Morsi is restored.

“The continuation of the grave situation” at sit-in sites, and “the acts of terrorism and blocking of roads that have followed, are no longer accepted,” the cabinet said. “The cabinet has decided to take all necessary measures to face these dangers and put an end to them.”

The Interior Ministry’s plan to deal with the sit-ins will be carried out lawfully, and potential gradual measures may start with warning protesters and run to using tear gas and “legitimate self-defense” measures, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported, citing an unnamed ministry official.

‘Pretty High’

“The statement is designed to threaten people” who are at the protest sites “and tell them to leave on their own,” Hani Sabra, Middle East director at the Eurasia Group in New York, said by telephone. “I don’t think that that’s going to happen, so the chance that this turns into a violent confrontation is pretty high.”

Meanwhile, Egyptian prosecutors referred the Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie for trial on charges of inciting murder, prosecutor Tamer El-Arabi said by telephone yesterday. Authorities have been rounding up top Brotherhood figures and freezing their assets.

Badie, the Brotherhood’s top official, is at large and a warrant for his arrest has been issued. Also set to be tried in the same case are deputy Brotherhood leaders Khairat El-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi, El-Arabi said.

The three are to be tried in connection with clashes near the group’s Cairo headquarters before Morsi was removed.

Coup Accusation

The Brotherhood has said it will continue to peacefully resist what it regards as a coup. Officials with the country’s new leadership have called for reconciliation while accusing the Brotherhood of inciting violence to portray itself as a victim.

“The coup government, which is led by the leaders of the military coup, wants more massacres against the Egyptian people,” Ahmed Aref, a Brotherhood spokesman in Cairo, said by telephone after the cabinet statement.

Last week, hundreds of thousands of Morsi’s opponents took to the streets after a call by Defense Minister Abdelfatah al-Seesi for a popular mandate to confront violence.

The cabinet said yesterday its decisions were based on the “popular authorization” to deal with “terrorism” and violence. It said the moves aim to protect national security and people’s safety.

The U.S. urges the interim government and security forces “to respect the right of peaceful assembly,” including sit-ins, Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, told reporters in Washington yesterday.

A joint U.S.-Egyptian military exercise scheduled for next month will proceed as scheduled, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters yesterday at the Pentagon.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry accused Brotherhood protesters of hiding weapons and harboring “dangerous foreign elements” in their sit-in areas, the state-run Ahram Gate website reported, citing an unidentified ministry official.

The Brotherhood’s Aref rejected accusations that pro-Morsi demonstrators are armed, saying that domestic and international human-rights observers and journalists have visited the sit-ins.

“We have nothing to hide,” he said.

Source:Bloomberg