Students and members of the Muslim Brotherhood carry a banner with the four-fingered symbol of Rabaa, representing the six-week sit-in in Cairo that was disbanded by the military on August 14, during a protest against the military in front of Cairo University in Cairo, yesterday.
CAIRO: Egypt’s cabinet yesterday ordered authorities to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from the list of approved non-governmental organisations following a judicial order, state media reported.
The move comes after an Egyptian court last month banned the Muslim Brotherhood from operating and ordered its assets seized, amid a massive crackdown on the group following the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.
In its September 23 ruling, the court had also banned “any institution branching out from or belonging to the Brotherhood”.
Mursi was Egypt’s first democratically elected president but his turbulent one year rule came to an abrupt end when the military heeded the call of millions of Egyptians to oust him on July 3.
His supporters have since taken to the streets to denounce what they say is a violation of democratic principles.But the army-installed authorities have pressed ahead with a massive campaign which has seen at least 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood supporters killed and around 2,000 jailed, including the top leadership.
Mursi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, has been detained at an unknown location since his ouster. Egypt has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, but violence has sharply increased since Mursi was deposed.On Sunday, at least 57 people were killed in clashes between security forces and Mursi supporters and nearly 400 were injured.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters chanted “Down with the military government” outside Cairo University yesterday, defying Egypt’s army-backed authorities despite deadly clashes with security forces two days earlier.
Supporters of deposed President Mursi had urged university students to protest against the army following the violence on Sunday, one of the Egypt’s bloodiest days since the military ousted the Islamist leader on July 3.
The death toll from Sunday’s unrest rose to 57, state media said, with 391 people wounded.
“We are here standing against the coup,” said Enas Madkour, a 19-year-old fine arts student at the march near Cairo University, where security forces had parked two tanks and blocked the main road with barbed wire.
“I’m against Mursi but I’m not for people killing others and I’m not for the military government we have now,” said Madkour, who wore a headscarf, as most Muslim women do in Egypt.
Small protests also occurred at Helwan University in southern Cairo, witnesses said. At Zagazig University, north east of Cairo, pro-Brotherhood students clashed with residents and Brotherhood opponents with fists, sticks and stones, security sources said. Eight people were wounded.
The army has presented a political roadmap it promised would bring fair elections, but the Brotherhood has refused to take part in the transition, saying that would legitimise what it calls a military coup against an elected president.AFP
