Protests continue in Egypt on Tuesday as opponents of Egypt’s president Mohammed Mursi poured onto the streets of Cairo to press home their demand that he step down after the Islamist president snubbed an ultimatum from the army to agree to the “people’s demands” or face an imposed solution.
Mursi and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have been locked in talks all day to “discuss the current crisis,” a military source said, as clashes in Cairo between opponents and supporters of the president left seven people dead.
The violence in Cairo’s Giza neighbourhood also injured dozens, “some of whom are in critical condition from bullet wounds,” medical sources told AFP.
Most businesses remained closed and very few cars were on the streets, as tensions soared ahead of the Wednesday deadline set by the army, which the president’s supporters have condemned as a coup threat.
Clashes also erupted in the Cairo neighbourhood Helwan and the northern province of Beheira, security officials said.
A senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood called on its supporters to be ready to sacrifice their lives to prevent an army takeover, recalling that hundreds had died during the 2011 revolution that ousted veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Brotherhood leader Mohamed al-Beltagui urged them to honour the sacrifices of those killed during the 2011 revolution that paved the way for Morsi to take power as Egypt’s first freely elected president.
“Seeking martyrdom to prevent this coup is what we can offer to the previous martyrs of the revolution,” he said.
The main opposition coalition said it was ready to join the urgent talks on a negotiated transition called for by the army and named former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei as its chief negotiator.
The June 30 Front called for mass protests to keep up the pressure on Morsi and tens of thousands packed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square and the large avenues outside the capital’s two presidential palaces.
Backers of the president joined a sit-in in his support in Cairo’s Nasr City neighbourhood, as crowds massed near Cairo University vowing to defend his legitimacy.
In a statement issued overnight, the presidency insisted it would continue on its own path towards national reconciliation.
