Supporters of deposed Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi shout slogans during a protest at the Rabaa Adawiya square, where they are camping, in Cairo, yesterday.
CAIRO: Thousands of supporters of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood stood their ground outside a Cairo mosque yesterday a day after at least 72 were gunned down by security forces, braced for a move against them by the army chief behind the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi.
General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi made his first appearance since Saturday’s bloodshed, smiling before television cameras at a police graduation ceremony, recruits decked out in starched white uniforms.
He received a standing ovation and was hailed by Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim as “Egypt’s devoted son”. Fawning coverage in state and private media reflected Sisi’s rising political star, in a country ruled by former military officers for six decades before Mursi’s election in 2012. Saturday’s dawn killings, following a day of rival mass rallies, triggered global anxiety that the Arab world’s most populous and influential country risked broader conflagration.
The Brotherhood accuses the military of turning back the clock on the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, and demands that Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, be reinstated.
Mursi has been in military detention since his July 3 overthrow and the military-backed interim government has placed him under investigation on charges including murder. Authorities also say they will move soon to clear the Brotherhood’s tent vigil.
“It’s a source of terrorism that’s threatening the whole society, and that’s being confirmed by the day,” Mostafa Hegazy, adviser to interim President Adli Mansour, told reporters. Army vehicles surrounded entrances to the square outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in northern Cairo on Sunday, where Brotherhood supporters used pictures of the bearded Mursi to shelter from the fierce sun.
“We are right, legitimacy is on our side and hopefully at the end God will lead us to triumph and we will not give up,” said Mostafa Ali, 29, from the Nile delta town of Mansoura.
The Interior Ministry has rejected eyewitness accounts that police opened fire on the crowds and a public prosecutor has launched a probe into the violence, investigating 72 suspects for an array of crimes including murder and blocking streets.
Reuters
