Posted on 07/04/2013 5:21:08 AM PDT by bert
As the army takes control of Egypt, demonstrators in favour of the ousted president feel isolated and ignored.
Cairo - The fireworks celebrating Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s removal by the military are visible a few kilometres away, where thousands of his supporters are holding a sit-in, a protest they plan to continue until Morsi is reinstated.
Hours after his removal, the mood at the rally, outside a mosque in Cairo’s Nasr City neighbourhood, was sombre and confused.
Supporters of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood wondered how the man who last year became Egypt’s first democratically-elected president could be ousted so ignominiously.
Fear hovered over the rally, too, with many Brotherhood members wondering if Morsi’s removal would portend a wider crackdown on the once-banned group.
The army has encircled the site of the protest, blocking main roads with barbed wire and armoured vehicles; helicopters buzz overhead, often to jeers and curses from below. One man spat at a helicopter, dismissing its pilots as traitors.
Rumours were rife in the early hours of Thursday morning that the army would soon raid the camp and detain the protesters. One man brought up the memory of 1954, when then-president Gamal Abdel Nasser crushed the Brotherhood, jailing thousands of its members.
"What the army did, they have unleashed hell on Egypt," said Mahdi Asfar, an elderly religious scholar at the sit-in. "The Islamists will not be able to stand back, because we are not going back to jail."
Determination waning
Many of these protesters have been on the streets since Friday, when a coalition of pro-Morsi political groups organised a rally under the banner "legitimacy is a red line." The mood on Friday was defiant, with large crowds convinced that Morsi could survive nationwide anti-government protests that were scheduled for Sunday.
As the week wore on, and the scope of the protests became clear, the mood grew increasingly tense. Security checks increased; protesters warned of impending raids by "thugs."
Even on Wednesday, just hours before the army’s deadline for Morsi to resolve the political crisis, there was still a sense of determination in the camp.
Leading members of the Brotherhood and their allies held a fiery press conference in which they demanded that the military back down. "We are the constitution, we are freedom, we are legitimacy, we are the revolution," said Essam el-Erian, the vice chairman of the Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party.
Determination had morphed into exhaustion by early Thursday morning.
Those who were still awake seemed taken aback by the day’s events, and blamed the overthrow on members of former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
"The problems that people could see, like the fuel crisis, stopped a day or two ago. The stock market rose on the 30th of June by 5 percent. How is everything solved moments before he leaves? I believe it is due to Mubarak and the deep state," said Sharif Ahmed, a businessman.
One speaker railed against a group of prominent political figures, dubbing them thugs. Most of his targets were predictable - Hamdeen Sabbahi, for example, an opposition leader who recently has tried to align himself with the army.
He also singled out Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand mufti of Al-Azhar University, the highest seat of Sunni learning in Egypt. Tayeb threw his support behind the coup, sitting in the audience while Defence Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced Morsi’s ouster and then adding brief remarks of his own.
With most of the media’s attention on the jubilant scenes in Tahrir Square and the presidential palace, many people at the sit-in said they felt ignored.
Journalists arrested
Their isolation was compounded by the shutdown of the Brotherhood’s television channel, Misr 25, and several other religious channels; Brotherhood officials said journalists working for their channel were arrested. “They don’t want people to see what is happening here,” Ahmed said.
Morsi himself is under house arrest, according to top Brotherhood officials, and has no access to the media; he resorted to YouTube to release a brief message after his ouster was announced.
More than a dozen other members of the movement have been arrested as well, according to security officials, a speedy move that to many here highlighted the government’s longstanding hostility towards the Brotherhood and other Islamist movements.
“Morsi’s people have been arrested already. The top people of Mubarak, they’re still out there, more than a year later,” said Ismail Abdel Aziz, a doctor. “The security forces have been sleeping for all this time. And now suddenly they wake up?”
Strange thing about democracy... it doesn’t work. It ends up in civil war between clashing factions for power. In Egypt’s case, there is a power with the muscle to maintain a sort of status-quo, sort of. But on this one thing you can be sure, the MB will come out of their hornet’s nest and blow Egypt up, with much blood shed... ah, the nuances of democracy.
Yeh,,another group of people who believed Obama’s word meant something. I’m sure when they heard Obama was backing Morsi with money and weapons and troops they thought it was the best news ever. God only knows where our troops are. The MSM isn’t going to ask. It’s all but certain the money is gone,,thank you John Kerry.
Obama Inc is the greatest destabilizing force on the planet today.
or.... just TELL Sarah Palin
Goebbels could not believe his luck, when after the attempted assassination of Hitler, that although the mutineers occupied the propaganda ministry, they did not cut off the telephones, or interfere with its employees, nor did they seize radio Berlin. Goebbels got on the phone to the radio station and the Wolf’s Lair, determined that Hitler had survived and dictated the “narrative” to the radio station. (Much like Mike McCurry used to.)
Had the mutineers seized the radio station and announced that they were in charge, it is likely that soon other units of the German Army would have risen up, and there might have been crowds in the street and millions of deaths could have been avoided.
Thank God, the coup in Egypt has been relativity bloodless.
“Its a gay world after all...”
Now that’s funny.
Good spot for a tactical Nuke.
LLS
In 3 months the O Regime will be touting how Bummer single handedly saved Egypt from demise!
Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, Barack the First may profit by their example! < "Treason"> If this be treason, make the most of it! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!I think Al Gore loosed the dogs of war with his 2000 election dispute, the most serious act to undermine the political stability of the United States since the Civil War. Clinton's assault on the rule of law and the traditional dignity and respect accorded of the Office of President was unrelenting and completely unprecedented. Now we get Obama, the first president more or less openly contemptuous and hostile to the American Armed Forces. The Armed Forces deference to the Civilian authority has been one of the anchors of American Freedom. But that anchor is grounded in attitudes of mutual respect and the sands are certainly shifting.
The guy on the right looks like he’s blowing his nose on the guy on the left’s shirt LOL
Entering into the surreal now...MB wants a constitution and freedom...???
He would fit right in with the Obama propaganda machine...
The only folks more despondent than the Muslim Brotherhood were over at CNN.
They were in major meltdown sputtering on and on about the overthrow of a ‘democratically elected leader’. They fear the same thing will happen to the Caliph. Inshallah!
It will be interesting to see if the radical Islamists with a sense if righteous indignation make Mursi a martyr, then turn Egypt into another Algeria with waves of civil violence and terrorism. The euphoria may not last long. Also Egypt is a overpopulated destitute country. The West should prepare for hordes of unwanted refugees. Egypt is an example of the futility of American policy in the Mideast.
This clown apparently DID win some sort of an election. That may indicate that being put into office by scum and low-info voters may not be a guaranty of happiness...
>the grand mufti of Al-Azhar University, the highest seat of Sunni learning in Egypt
This must be the top gun of teaching the muslim savages to rape and abuse women and children. Now they have all day to stick their butts up in the air while talking nonsense toward mecca. Perhaps they can keep in practice buggering each other. Maybe they’ll get bored and try attacking the military with their muzzy bros. That should be entertaining.
As the army takes control of Egypt, demonstrators in favour of the ousted president “feel isolated and ignored”. For the past year or so, the anti-Morsi crowd “felt accepted and loved”.
Barbarians can only understand anarchy via tribal rules. Democracy is something they have to be willing to compromise for it to succeed. However Compromise is not murdering your fellow citizen to prove a legitimate place in leadership.
The US military will feel empowered because of Egypts strong action. Don’t think they will be pushed around. That’s other than the top
generals, oh and the gay dudes. The second in command and lower maybe will get some balls. The courts and congress don’t have the stomach to do the right thing.
Egypts new boss is a Christian I think. The brotherhood is so screwed.
There, over there...... is that writing on the wall?
Are the tea partiers coming?
" A feeling that I never never never felt like this before...yeah yeah...
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