CAIRO: Europe’s top diplomat shuttled between Egypt’s rulers and the Muslim Brotherhood yesterday in an urgent mission to pull the country back from more bloodshed, but both sides were defiant and unyielding after 80 Brotherhood supporters were gunned down.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, making her second visit in 12 days as one of the few outsiders still able to speak to both sides, made no public comment. Supporters and opponents of Mursi left no doubt about the depth of polarisation in the country. “It’s very simple, we are not going anywhere,” said Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El Haddad, making clear the group intends to defy government orders to abandon a protest vigil of thousands of followers demanding Mursi’s return. “We are going to intensify the protest,” he told Reuters. “Someone has to put sense into this leadership.” REUTERS
