Egypt’s interior ministry said at least 14 million people took to the streets amid a wide-scale opposition movement. (Photo: EPA)Mass demonstrations continued in Cairo and across Egypt for the second straight day on Monday as the movement that previously ousted the long-time authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak has set its sights on a ‘Second Revolution’ with a call for the sitting president, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi, to step aside.
As multiple news agencies are reporting on Monday, the opposition Tamarod movement, which brought millions of Egyptians into the streets on Sunday, has given Morsi until 5pm on Tuesday to resign from office.
Protesters, opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, take part in a protest demanding Mursi to resign at Tahrir Square in Cairo July 1, 2013. (Photo: REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)
Reports indicate that already some of Morsi’s cabinet members have resigned as the pressure on them showed no signs of abating and following reports that at least sixteen people were killed and many hundreds injured during the weekend demonstrations were Morsi supporters clashed with the opposition movement.
In a statement put out by Tamarod, its leaders urged “state institutions including the army, the police and the judiciary to clearly side with the popular will as represented by the crowds.”
The group declared that time for dialogue with the regime and other “halfway measures” was over.
“There is no alternative other than the peaceful end of power of the Muslim Brotherhood and its representative, Mohammed Morsi,” the statement said and gave him until Tuesday night to leave or face escalated civil disobedience and unrest.
Early Monday, the Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood were stormed and set ablaze. As independent journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous tweeted:
And the Associated Press adds:
After clashes raged overnight, protesters managed to breach the compound’s defenses and storm the six-story building early Monday, carting off furniture, files, rugs, blankets, air conditioning units and portraits of Morsi, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. One protester emerged with a pistol and handed it over to a policeman outside.
Footage on local TV networks showed smashed windows, blackened walls and smoke billowing out of the fortified villa in the Muqatam district in eastern Cairo. A fire was still raging on one floor hours after the building was stormed. One protester tore down the Muslim Brotherhood sign from the building’s front wall, while another hoisted Egypt’s red, black and white flag out an upper-story window and waved it in the air in triumph.
Al-Jazeera reports:
Some preparing for rallies on Monday spent the night in dozens of tents pitched at Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and the palace, positions organisers say they will hold until Morsi resigns.
In fewer numbers, supporters of the Egyptian president came out on Sunday to show their support and defend what they called the president’s “legitimacy”.
As anger against Morsi swept the streets, at least six people were killed and more than 600 wounded in clashes between the pro and anti-Morsi groups, the Reuters news agency reported.
As the protests continued, the English language Egypt Independent reports how the Morsi regime was using familiar tactics to control the message by restricting the production of the state-run television:
The information minister has cancelled the People of Egypt (Ahl Masr in Arabic) programme, which is broadcast daily on the state-run Egyptian satellite channel.
Sherif al-Gammal, the show’s director, said the minister made his decision after discovering who would be appearing on the programme.
People of Egypt guests included Egyptian Social Democratic Party leader Farid Zahran, Islamic thinker Hassan Kamal and Tamarod (“rebellion”) campaigner Maha Abu Bakr.
Free Egyptians Party spokesperson Shehab Wagih, National Salvation Front member Wael Nawwarah and Conscience Front member Mohamed Sharaf were also booked to attend.
Gammal added that the minister has restricted political shows to news bulletins and reports from correspondents only, in attempts to to filter out undesirable content.
______________________________
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
Republished with permission from:: Common Dreams