Protests Continue, Gov’t Tasks Police to End Sit-In, Brotherhood Leaders to Face Court

Local Editor

Thousands of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi defied a new warning from the military-backed cabinet and are continuing their sit-ins in the capital, Cairo.

Hours earlier, Egypt's cabinet tasked police to take "all necessary measures" to end protests by supporters of Mursi, warning that their demonstrations pose a national security threat.
"The continuation of the dangerous situation in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, and consequent terrorism and road blockages are no longer acceptable given the threat to national security," it said in a statement.
Mursi's supporters have been camped out in both squares demanding his reinstatement.
"The government has decided to take all necessary measures to confront and end these dangers, and tasks the interior minister to do all that is necessary in this regard, in accordance with the constitution and law," the statement read.
Meanwhile, the protesters vowed to keep up the protests despite the cabinet's orders of a crackdown.

"Nothing will change," spokesman Gehad al-Haddad said when asked if the protests would end, dismissing the interim government's order for police to crack down as an "attempt to terrorize Egyptians."
For his part, Essam al-Erian, vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood's political party, said the protesters would not be deterred by the latest threats.
"There are expectations of a massacre taking place in front of the eyes of the whole world," he said.

"The free people in Egypt and the world must stand against this stupid cabinet mandate for the police to end the sit-in protests."
In a related matter, Egypt's prosecution later on Wednesday referred the fugitive leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and two of his imprisoned deputies to trial over a deadly clash in Cairo, judicial sources said.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including its supreme guide who is in hiding, Mohammed Badie, are facing charges related to violence that preceded Mursi's ouster.

On Wednesday, judicial sources said Badie and imprisoned deputies Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi had been referred to trial on charges of inciting the murder of demonstrators.
The three are accused of inciting the murder of protesters outside their headquarters on the night of June 30, three days before Mursi's overthrow.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team