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CAIRO -- Authorities escalated their crackdown Wednesday
on the Muslim Brotherhood, ordering the arrest of its top leader for
inciting violence this week in which more than 50 people were killed in
clashes with security forces.
One week after
the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi and began moving against
his Muslim Brotherhood movement, prosecutors issued a warrant for the arrest of the group's supreme leader, Mohammed Badie, as well as nine other leading Islamists.
According
to a statement from the prosecutor general's office, they are suspected
of instigating Monday's violence outside a Republican Guard building
that grew into the worst bloodshed since Morsi was toppled.
Members
of the Brotherhood and other Islamists have denounced Morsi's ouster
and have refused offers by the military-backed interim leadership to
join any transition plan for a new government. They demand nothing less
than Morsi's release from detention and his reinstatement as president.
Foreign
Ministry spokeman Badr Abdel-Atti gave the first official word on Morsi
in days, saying the ousted leader is in a safe place and is being
treated in a "very dignified manner." No charges have been leveled
against him, Abdel-Atti said.
"For his own
safety and for the safety of the country, it is better to keep him ...
otherwise, consequences will be dire," he added.
Thousands
of Muslim Brotherhood supporters are continuing a sit-in at the
Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque near the Republican Guard building that was the
site of Monday's clashes that killed 54 people, most of them Morsi
supporters. The Islamists have accused the troops of gunning down
protesters, while the military blamed armed backers of Morsi for
provoking its forces.
News of the arrest warrants did not surprise the protesters, who saw the move as an attempt to pressure the group's leadership to end the demonstration.
"We
expected it," said Ayman el-Ashmawi. "Even if they arrest the biggest
number of Muslim Brotherhood members, we want to say that the Muslim
Brotherhood will leave this square only over our dead bodies - or the
return of Dr. Mohammed Morsi."
Fathi Abdel-Wahab, a bearded protester in his 30s, said he and the others at the rally had legitimacy on their side.
"We will sacrifice ourselves and we will continue
because we have a clear cause. We will defend it peacefully. ... We
will never accept the military's coup," he said as he rested inside a
tent near a group of people reciting verses from the Quran.
On
Friday, Badie delivered a fiery speech near the mosque to tens of
thousands of his supporters in which he told them, "God make Morsi
victorious. ... We are his soldiers. We defend him with our lives."
Following
that speech, thousands of Islamists marched in the streets and clashed
with Morsi opponents in the heart of Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt,
leaving more than 30 dead and 200 injured.
After
a week of violence and mass demonstrations, Egyptians were hoping that
Wednesday's start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan will significantly
calm the streets. The sunrise-to-sunset fast cuts down on daytime
activity, although there are fears of unrest at night.
The
warrants highlight the armed forces' zero-tolerance policy toward the
Brotherhood and other Islamists. The military already has jailed five
Brotherhood leaders, including Badie's powerful deputy, Khairat
el-Shaiter, and shut down its media outlets.
Muslim
Brotherhood spokesman Gehad Haddad said in his Twitter account that the
arrest warrants were the return of "same old police-state tactics." The
Brotherhood was banned under autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
The
military-backed interim president, Adly Mansour, issued a fast-track
timetable Monday for the transition. His declaration set out a
seven-month timetable for elections but also a truncated, temporary
constitution laying out the division of powers in the meantime.
The
accelerated process was meant, in part, to reassure the U.S. and other
Western allies that Egypt is on a path toward democratic leadership. But
it has faced opposition from the very groups that led the four days of
mass protests that prompted the military to remove Morsi on July 3.
The
top liberal political group, the National Salvation Front, expressed
reservations over the plan Tuesday, saying it was not consulted - "in
violation of previous promises." The Front said the declaration "lacks
significant clauses while others need change or removal," but did not
elaborate.
The secular, revolutionary youth
movement Tamarod that organized massive anti-Morsi demonstrations that
led to his ouster also criticized the plan, in part because it gives too
much power to Mansour, including the power to issue laws. A post-Morsi
plan put forward by Tamarod called for a largely ceremonial interim
president with most power in the hands of the prime minister.
At
the heart of liberals' objections is that they wanted to write a new
constitution, not amend the one written under Morsi by an
Islamist-dominated panel. That constitution contained several articles
that drew fierce criticism from liberal quarters, and helped sparked
street protests and violence in 2012. Other objections centered on
powers of the interim president.
The only Islamist party that backed military's ouster of Morsi has been vetoing any rewriting of the constitution.
New
Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, who was appointed Tuesday by Mansour,
is holding consultations on a Cabinet. In what is seen as an attempt at
reconciliation, el-Beblawi has said he will offer the Brotherhood, which
helped propel Morsi to the presidency, posts in his transitional
government.
A Brotherhood spokesman said the
group will not take part in an interim Cabinet, and that talk of
national reconciliation under the current circumstances is "irrelevant."
He spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his
security.
The rejection underlines the
difficulties faced by the interim leadership in trying to stabilize
Egypt and bridge the deep fissures in the country. The nascent
government also will soon face demands that it tackle economic woes that
mounted under Morsi, including fuel shortages, electricity cutoffs and
inflation.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates provided a welcome boost Tuesday. The two countries, both
opponents of Morsi's Brotherhood, celebrated his ouster by showering the
cash-strapped Egyptian government with promises of $8 billion in
grants, loans and badly needed gas and oil. On Wednesday, Kuwait said it
would offer an aid package worth $4 billion.
The
donations effectively step in for Morsi's Gulf patron, Qatar, a close
ally of the Brotherhood that gave his government several billion in aid
during his year in office.
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