Egypt on the Brink: Army Chief Warns of State Collapse

Local Editor

As the sixth day of political unrest in Cairo continued well into the night, Egypt‘s Army Chief warned of the "collapse of the state" if the political crisis is not resolved in coming days.
"The continuation of the conflict between different political forces and their disagreement on running the affairs of the country may lead to the collapse of the state and threatens the future of the coming generations," Gen. Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi said Tuesday.
Al-Sisi further warned that the country's social and political challenges represent "a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state."

He defended Egyptians' right to protest, while acknowledging that the deployment in the canal cities put the armed forces in a "grave predicament."
In parallel, al-Sisi added the troops must balance "avoiding confrontations" with protesters with protecting "vital facilities."

More than 50 people have died and hundreds have been injured in recent protests, prompting President Mohammad Mursi to impose a curfew and declare a state of emergency in three cities along the Suez Canal. Violence erupted in Port Said over the weekend after a court handed down 21 death sentences to those involved in last year's deadly soccer riots that left 74 people dead.
Tuesday night, Port Said protesters defied the 9 p.m. curfew for the second night in a row, challenging the president's decree and threatening to draw the violence into Wednesday.

In Cairo, intense fighting for days around central Tahrir Square engulfed two landmark hotels and forced the US Embassy to suspend public services Tuesday. The lobby of the five-star Semiramis hotel along the Nile was trashed when armed, masked men attempted to loot it amid clashes outside early Tuesday morning.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org