Rallies in Egypt raise fears of violence, spark exodus AL AZHAR CLERIC URGES CALM WHILE WARNING PEOPLE OF LOOMING CIVIL WAR Supporters and opponents of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammad Mursi gathered for rival demonstrations yesterday, raising fears of fresh violence after one activist was killed overnight in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, north of the capital, Mursi’s own home province. Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies massed outside the Rabaa Al Adawiya mosque in Cairo’s Nasr district to demonstrate their backing for Mursi in his rejection of opposition calls to step down just a year into his term of office. One dead in Alexandria Opponents of the president gathered outside Cairo’s Al Azhar — Islam’s highest seat of learning — for a march to Tahrir Square, the iconic epicentre of the protest movement that ousted veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Violence broke out in Alexandria, leaving one person dead and at least 54 injured, a security official said. The offices of the Freedom and Justice Party were also set on fire during the confrontations, the FJP said. “The clashes erupted between the two sides and at least 10 people were injured because of rock throwing,” an official said. In the Delta province of Aga, clashes left 32 wounded, according to local health authorities. Many fear the clashes are a prelude to more widespread and bloodier battles tomorrow. In a sign of the charged atmosphere, a senior cleric, Shaikh Hassan Al Shafie, from Al Azhar, warned of the possibility of “civil war” after the street clashes in the Delta. He also called for calm. “Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war,” the ancient Cairo academy said in a statement. Cairo International Airport was flooded with departures, in an exodus airport officials called unprecedented. They said all flights departing yesterday to Europe, the US and the Gulf were fully booked with no vacant seats. Many of those leaving were families of Egyptian officials and businessmen and those of foreign and Arab League diplomats as well as many Egyptian Christians, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Egypt’s leading religious authority warned of “civil war” yesterday and called for calm after a member of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood was killed ahead of mass rallies aimed at forcing the president to quit. “Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war,” the Al Azhar institute said. In a statement broadly supportive of Islamist head of state Mohammad Mursi, it blamed “criminal gangs” for street violence, which the Brotherhood said has killed five supporters in a week. Thousands of backers of President Mursi rallied yesterday in Cairo in a show of support ahead of planned opposition protests tomorrow demanding his removal, as passengers swamped the capital’s international airport to leave, fearing widespread violence. The Brotherhood says the five killed in the Nile Delta clashes were its members. Some people “think they can topple a democratically elected president by killing his support groups,” Jihad Al Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman, wrote on his Twitter account. There was no immediate sign of trouble as Islamists gathered round a Cairo mosque after weekly prayers to show support for Mursi. His opponents hope millions will turn out tomorrow to demand new elections, a year to the day since he was sworn in as Egypt’s first freely elected leader. “I came to support the legitimate order,” said Ahmad Al Maghrabi, 37, a shopkeeper from the Nile Delta city of Mansoura whose hand bore grazes from street fighting there this week. “I am with the elected president. He needs to see out his term.” Cairo International Airport was flooded with departures, in an exodus airport officials called unprecedented. They said all flights departing yesterday to Europe, the United States and the Gulf were fully booked with no vacant seats. Many of those leaving were families of Egyptian officials and businessmen and those of foreign and Arab League diplomats — as well as many Egyptian Christians, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to the press. Some opposition gatherings were also under way. A handful of protesters watched security men ringing the presidential palace, the focus for tomorrow’s Cairo rally. Mursi has moved elsewhere. In Alexandria, the second city, several thousand protesters marched along the seafront. Some fear the Brotherhood is intent on usurping the revolution to entrench its power and Islamic law. Others were complaining mainly about economic stagnation. “I’ve nothing to do with politics, but with the state we’re in now, even a stone would cry out,” said 42- year- old accountant Mohammad Abdul Latif. “There are no services, We elected Mursi, but this is enough.” Senior Al Azhar scholar Hassan Al Shafe’ei was quoted by state media urging the opposition to accept Mursi’s talks offer “for the national good, instead of the insistence on confrontation”. Opposition leaders dismissed Mursi’s proposal on Wednesday to include the fragmented opposition in panels to review the constitution and promote reconcilation. “We are confident the Egyptian masses will go out in their millions in Egypt’s squares and streets on June 30 to confirm their will to get the January 25 revolution back on track.”
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 07:47:02 +0000
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