Breaking, 07-02-2013, 2:30 pm EDT: Egyptian Army HQ Deploys Army Personnel Carriers In Pro-Morsi Areas, Denies Coup D’Etat
Michael Matthew Bloomer, July 2, 2013
Al Jazeera reports:
The next move is yours, President Morsi . . .
Egypt’s ruling Freedom and Justice Party has said that “a full military coup” was under way to remove President Mohamed Morsi from power, after an army deadline urging him to meet the protesters’ demands expired.
Gehad El-Haddad, a spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood and senior adviser to the Freedom and Justice Party, said on Wednesday that armoured personnel carriers were on the move around the outskirts of Cairo and that “some high ranking members of the Brotherhood have been arrested”.
Haddad also told Al Jazeera that communication with Morsi was cut off, saying that he could not confirm nor deny whether the president was moved from the Republican Guard Headquarters in the capital.
The statement came as hundreds of thousands of anti-government portesters rallied across the city, flooding Tahrir Square in the centre, the main hub of the opposition coalition movement.
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei and the heads of the Coptic Church and Al-Azhar – Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning – will unveil an army roadmap for Egypt’s future in the event of Morsi’s ouster, state television said.
ElBaradei, Pope Tawadros II and Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb had been in talks with the military over the transition from the rule of the Islamist president, military sources said earlier. [Full story]
Also Al Jazeera television coverage reports arrest of Muslim Brotherhood members, as well as the deployment of Egyptian army throughout Egypt in pro-Morsi rally areas. Egyptian military denies a coup d’état.
Moreover, Reuters has just reported:
(Reuters) – Egypt’s leading Muslim and Christian clerics and the leader of the liberal opposition alliance Mohamed ElBaradei will jointly present a roadmap for a political transition shortly, state news agency MENA said on Wednesday.
The announcement follows talks with military chiefs who gave President Mohamed Mursi an ultimatum to share power, which has now expired. The generals would be present at the announcement along with members of the Tamarud youth protest movement, MENA said.
The clerics would be the Grand Sheikh of Cairo’s Al-Azhar institution, a leading authority in the Muslim world, and Pope Tawadros, the head of the Coptic Church and leader of Egypt’s millions of Christians.
(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
