Egypt army chief warns state could collapse
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PORT SAID, Egypt (AP) -- Thousands of mourners chanting for the
downfall of Egypt's president marched in funerals again Tuesday in the
restive city of Port Said as the army chief warned the state could
collapse if the latest political crisis drags on.
Army
chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's warning, his first comments after six
days of rioting and violence across much of the country, appeared aimed
at pressuring Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in particular but also
his opponents to find some common ground and the worst political crisis
to hit Egypt since the ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak nearly two years
ago.
So far, the military - which for months
seems to have had an understanding with Morsi - has allowed him to deal
with the crisis and on his orders deployed troops and tanks over the
weekend in Port Said and Suez, two riot-torn cities along the strategic
Suez Canal.
But it has been willing to go only
so far, clearly reluctant to clash with protesters. Troops stood by and
watched Monday night as thousands took to the streets in direct
defiance of a nighttime curfew and a 30-day state of emergency declared
by Morsi in the cities. Residents of the two cities and Ismailiya, a
third city also under the emergency, marched just as the curfew came
into force at 9 p.m.
The last time el-Sissi
delved into politics was late last year when he invited political
leaders to an informal gathering to ease tensions during clashes and
protests at the time. The invitation was swiftly withdrawn and leaders
from Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood later suggested el-Sissi overstepped the
boundaries by intervening.
"The continuation
of the conflict between the different political forces and their
differences over how the country should be run could lead to the
collapse of the state and threaten future generations," el-Sissi said,
speaking to military cadets in comments posted on the armed forces'
Facebook page.
He defended Egyptians' right to
protest, while acknowledging that the deployment in the Canal cities
put the armed forces in a "grave predicament." He said the troops must
balance "avoiding confrontations" with protesters with protecting "vital
facilities."
El-Sissi, whom Morsi last year
installed in his post and as defense minister, also spoke of a
"realistic threat" facing the nation as a result of what he called the
political, economic and social challenges.
Tuesday
night, the presidential office said Morsi would consider cancelling the
state of emergency and the curfew or cut them short if security
improved by next week.
The statement appeared
aimed at defusing the wave of fury against the president in the three
cities. The anger has escalated to a virtual rebellion that many worry
could spread to other parts of the country. Already, protesters across
much of Egypt are battling police, cutting off roads and railway lines,
and besieging government offices and police stations as part of a
growing revolt against Morsi and his Islamist group, the Muslim
Brotherhood group.
At least 60 people have been killed since Friday.
In
Cairo, intense fighting for days around central Tahrir Square engulfed
two landmark hotels and forced the U.S. Embassy to suspend public
services on Tuesday. The lobby of the five-star Semiramis hotel along
the Nile was trashed when armed, masked men attempted to loot it amid
clashes outside early Tuesday morning.
In Port
Said, scene of the worst violence the past six days, thousands marched
in funerals for six of the more than 40 people killed in the city's
clashes since Saturday, chanting against Morsi and his Muslim
Brotherhood.
"As long as the president's hands
are stained in blood, he must leave," said lawyer Mohammed el-Assfouri
as he stood outside the city's Mariam mosque where mourners prayed for
the dead. A sign carried by one mourner said: "The independent state of
Port Said."
Some of the demonstrators in Port
Said on Monday night waved white-and-green flags they said were the
colors of a new and independent state. Such secession would be
unthinkable, but the move underlined the depth of frustration in the
city. Tanks were fanned out in the city of some 600,000, located 140
miles northeast of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast and at the tip of
the Suez Canal.
Morsi's opponents accuse
Islamists of monopolizing power and failing to live up to the ideals of
the pro-democracy uprising that ousted authoritarian leader Hosni
Mubarak two years ago. Critics say he has failed to tackle the country's
massive problems, which range from an economy in free fall to surging
crime, chaos on the streets and lack of political consensus.
El-Sissi's
comments raised questions over the military's stance if the crisis
continues to swell. The military formed the backbone of Mubarak's regime
- and those of all presidents since a 1956 coup - and the generals
stepped into rule directly after Mubarak's removal in February 2011. The
military's nearly 17-month stint in power tainted its reputation in the
eyes of many Egyptians who accused it of mismanaging the transition and
carrying out human rights abuses.
The
Brotherhood largely accepted military rule, seeing it as paving the way
to the elections it would eventually win, bringing it to political
power. But the relationship was contentious: Before officially handing
power over to Morsi after his election, the generals tried to keep
sweeping powers. Within two months, Morsi took back the powers,
sidelined the top generals and handpicked el-Sissi as defense minister
and head of the armed forces.
The wave of
unrest has touched cities across much of Egypt since Thursday, including
Cairo, the three Suez Canal cities, Alexandria on the Mediterranean in
the north and a string of cities in the Nile Delta.
The
violence accelerated Friday, the second anniversary of the uprising,
with protests to mark the event turning to clashes that left 11 dead,
most of them in Suez.
The next day, riots
exploded in Port Said after a court convicted and sentenced to death 21
defendants - mostly locals - for a mass soccer riot in the city's main
stadium a year ago. Rioters attacked police stations, clashed with
security forces in the streets and shots and tear gas were fired at
protester funerals.
The mayhem in Port Said
was fueled in part by the anger and sense of betrayal that have been
simmering in the city following last year's riot, the worst ever in
Egyptian soccer.
Protesters and activists,
meanwhile, are accusing the police of excessive use of force in dealing
with demonstrators. Morsi, in their view, endorsed their tactics when he
commended them in a short, televised speech on Sunday night when he
declared the state of emergency and curfew.
In
Cairo on Tuesday, the area around central Tahrir Square was relatively
quiet for most of the day, but clashes between police and rock-throwing
protesters intensified by late afternoon and continued into the night.
On Monday, protesters and police battled each other in area all day and
until late at night in scenes reminiscent of the early days of the 2011
uprising.
The Interior Ministry, which is in
charge of the police, said more than a 100 policemen have been injured
in the central Cairo clashes since they started on Thursday. The only
fatality in the capital in the six days came on Monday when a young man
died of gunshot wound.
Early Tuesday morning,
police foiled an attempted robbery by 12 masked gunmen at the Semiramis
Intercontinental. The luxury hotel is one of the two caught up in
clashes around Tahrir Square.
Security
officials say the attackers looted shops in the hotel's small mall and
smashed glass. They suspect the culprits are criminals who used the
rioting outside on the street as cover. AP television footage shows
protesters trying to arrest some of the thieves. By Tuesday, the
shattered glass facade of the lobby was boarded up and only a few guests
remained.
The nearby U.S. Embassy said on its website that it was closing public services on Tuesday because of the security situation.
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