Egyptian children display a portrait of ousted president Mohammed Morsi during a demonstration in Cairo yesterday.
CAIRO: Islamist supporters of deposed Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi planned new rallies yesterday as the interim premier suggested a crackdown on their protest camps was imminent.
The government has said it held off from breaking up the Islamist’s protest camps in Cairo out of respect for the holy month of Ramadan, which ended on Wednesday night, and to give foreign mediators a chance to end the deadlock peacefully.
With the failure of the mediation, the country is bracing for an increasingly inevitable confrontation between the army-installed government and Mursi’s loyalists demanding his reinstatement.
“The government wants to give the protesters, especially the reasonable ones among them, a chance to reconcile and heed the voice of reason,” said prime minister Hazem El Beblawi.
But he warned “that the situation is approaching the moment we would rather avoid,” in a statement late Thursday.
The main pro-Mursi coalition, the Anti-Coup Alliance, called for the marches to set off from different Cairo mosques after prayers.
“The Egyptian people are continuing, and the days will only increase their determination to persist in their peaceful struggle until the country returns to the democratic path, until the coup is completely ended,” a statement said.
Western powers have warned of further bloodshed and, in a moment of rare agreement, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of a possible civil war with “dire consequences.”
A civil war, similar to Algeria’s after the military moved on Islamists on the cusp of election victory, is highly unlikely in Egypt.
But an uptick in attacks, such as the bombing of a police station in a Nile Delta city on July 24, may ensue as more radical Morsi supporters turn to militancy.
Many supporters of the July 3 coup that overthrew Morsi, after millions rallied demanding his resignation, have pressed the government to crack down on the Islamists. “A truce for Eid,” read the headline of the state newspaper Al Gomhuria yesterday, as the countdown began to the dispersal of the Cairo protest camps.
The main sit-in in Rabaa Al Adawiya Square has come to resemble a village of tents, raising concerns of a possible carnage if police move in.
“This remains a very fragile situation, which holds not only the risk of more bloodshed and polarisation in Egypt, but also impedes the economic recovery which is so essential for Egypt’s successful transition,” said a joint statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday.
“The Egyptian government bears a special responsibility to begin this process to ensure the safety and welfare of its citizens,” it added.
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and EU envoy Bernardino Leon left Cairo this week without making headway in finding a compromise. AFP
