Tens Of Morsi Supporters Briefly March To Old Sit-In Venue

Tens of protesters calling for the reinstatement of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi headed towards Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo’s Nasr City on Saturday, but left immediately as the area saw heavy deployment of security forces.

According to Al-Ahram’s Arabic news site, around 70 supporters of Morsi came through the nearby Nozha Street and peacefully left soon after.

Security forces have sealed off Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square, which witnessed an extended sit-in of six weeks by Morsi supporters before its dispersal 14 August, with around 600 protesters and 40 police officers dead in ensuing violence.

The Saturday rally comes in response to calls by the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy — an Islamist coalition supporting Morsi — to demonstrate on 14 September, marking one month since the dispersal of the two main pro-Morsi sit-ins in Giza’s Al-Nahda Square and Rabaa Al-Adawiya.

Two days earlier, Muslim Brotherhood figure Essam El-Erian, who is one of few prominent leaders still at large, called on Egyptians in a message broadcast on Al-Jazeera Mubashar Misr to protest on Friday, Saturday and beyond, out of “loyalty to the blood of the martyrs.”

Thousands of Islamists marched Friday “commemorating the martyrs.” One man was shot dead and six others were wounded in Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria. Another man was killed and tens injured in clashes between Brotherhood supporters and opponents in Ezbat Tahrir in the Upper Egypt governorate of Beni Suef.

Many clashes have erupted between Islamist protesters and their opponents since the ouster of Morsi amid nationwide protests against his presidency, resulting of hundreds of deaths mainly from the Islamist camp.

Hundreds of prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, have been arrested by authorities in recent weeks and charged with ‘inciting violence,’ among other criminal offences.

Morsi was ousted by the armed forces 3 July.

Source : Ahram