Supporters of deposed President Mohammed Mursi chant slogans at Rabaa Adawiya Square yesterday.
CAIRO: Egyptian police are expected to start taking action against supporters of ousted President Mohammed Mursi today who are gathered in crowded protest camps in Cairo, security and government sources said, a move which could trigger more bloodshed.
The sites are the main flashpoints in the confrontation between the army, which toppled Mursi last month, and supporters who demand his reinstatement.
The dispersal of Cairo sit-ins will be “gradual”, with protesters given “several warnings” before police moves in, senior security officials said.
“There will be a series of gradual steps. We will announce every step along the way,” an interior ministry general said. Once the siege begins, the protesters will be “surrounded”, no one will be let into the sit-ins and the protesters will be given several warnings to leave, another security official said.
“State security troops will be deployed around the sit-ins by dawn as a start of procedures that will eventually lead to a dispersal,” a senior security source said, adding that the first step will be to surround the camps.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has come under pressure from hardline military officers to move against the protesters, security sources say.
AFP/Reuters
