Egypt Descends into Security, Political Chaos
Local Editor
Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi fought with rocks, firebombs and sticks outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Wednesday in large-scale clashes that marked the worst violence of a deepening crisis over the disputed constitution.
Meanwhile, three of Mursi's aides resigned in protest of his handling of the crisis. With two aides who had quit earlier, now five of his panel of 17 advisers have left their jobs since the problems began.
Mohamed al-Baradei, a leading opposition figure, accused Mursi's rule of being "no different from that of former President Hosni Mubarak," whose authoritarian regime was toppled in an uprising nearly two years ago.
The opposition demands Mursi rescind decrees giving him nearly unrestricted powers and shelve a disputed draft constitution that the president's allies passed hurriedly last week.
The latest clashes began when thousands of Mursi's supporters descended on the area around the palace where some 300 of his opponents were staging a sit-in. The members of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood group, chased the protesters away from their base outside the palace's main gate and tore down their tents.
The protesters scattered in side streets where they chanted anti-Mursi slogans. After a lull in fighting, hundreds of young Mursi opponents arrived at the scene and immediately began throwing firebombs at the president's backers, who responded with rocks.
By nightfall, there were about 10,000 of Mursi's supporters outside the palace. They set up metal barricades to keep traffic off a stretch of road that runs parallel to the palace in Cairo's upscale Heliopolis district. Some of them appeared to plan staging their own sit-in.
"We came to support the president. We feel there is a legitimacy that someone is trying to rob," said engineer Rabi Mohammed, a Brotherhood supporter. "People are rejecting democratic principles using thuggery."
In parallel, Egypt's army deployed tanks outside the presidential palace after the clashes.
While calling for more mass rallies is the obvious course of action, activists said opposition leaders also were discussing whether to campaign for a "no" vote in a Dec. 15 constitutional referendum or to call for a boycott.
Brotherhood leaders have been calling on the opposition to enter a dialogue with the President. But the opposition contends that a dialogue is pointless unless the president first rescinds his decrees and shelves the draft charter.
For his part, Vice President Mahmoud Mekki called for a dialogue between the president and the opposition to reach a "consensus" on the disputed articles of the constitution and put their agreement in a document that would be discussed by the next parliament. But he said the referendum must go ahead and that he was making his "initiative" in a personal capacity not on behalf of Mursi.
Speaking to reporters, al-Baradei said there would be no dialogue unless Mursi rescinded his decrees and shelved the constitution draft. Asked to comment on Mekki's offer, he said: "With all due respect, we don't deal with personal initiatives. If there is a genuine desire for dialogue, the offer must come from President Mursi."
If the referendum goes ahead as scheduled and the draft constitution is adopted, elections for parliament's lawmaking lower chamber will be held in February.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
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