Islamists rallied yesterday in support of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s new expanded powers and the drafting of a contested charter, in a clear show of Egypt’s deepening polarization.
The demonstration in the heart of Cairo comes a day after tens of thousands of Morsi opponents converged on Tahrir Square in the city to protest against the president’s decree and the speedy adoption of the draft constitution.
The charter has taken center stage in the country’s worst political crisis since Morsi’s election in June, squaring largely Islamist forces against secular-leaning opponents.
Photo: AFP
It is expected to go to a popular referendum within two weeks.
Members of the constituent assembly were due to hand Morsi at 4pm the final draft of the constitution adopted after a marathon overnight session on Thursday that was boycotted by liberals, seculars and Christians.
By mid-morning, hundreds of pro-Morsi demonstrators, including from the Muslim Brotherhood, on whose ticket Morsi ran for office, and other hardline Salafist groups gathered at Cairo University, with riot police on standby and roadblocks in place.
“The Muslim Brotherhood supports President Morsi’s decisions,” read a banner carried by Islamists, who chanted: “The people want the implementation of God’s law.”
Veiled women ullulated among the protesters, with banners reading “Together [with Morsi] to save the revolution.”
“There are people who want instability,” said demonstrator Khaled, referring to anti-Morsi protesters. “There needs to be a constitution for there to be stability.”
The Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters have branded the opposition as enemies of the revolution that toppled former longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak last year.
Across the Nile river, hundreds of protesters camping out in Tahrir Square since Morsi issued a decree expanding his powers were expected to be joined by more demonstrators throughout the day.
The National Rescue Front — a coalition of opponents led by dissident former UN nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei, ex-Arab League head Amr Mussa and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi — has called on the decree’s opponents to keep up the pressure.
It has called on Egyptians to “reject the illegitimate” decree and the “void” draft constitution, and stressed the public’s right “to use any peaceful method to protest, including a general strike and civil disobedience.”
The crisis was sparked when Morsi issued the decree on Nov. 22 giving himself sweeping powers and placing his decisions beyond judicial review, provoking mass protests and a judges’ strike.
His decree prevented the top legal body, the Supreme Constitutional Court, from potentially dissolving the Islamist-run constituent assembly, in a ruling it was to make today on the body’s legality.
“Rushing through a draft while serious concerns about key rights protections remain unaddressed will create huge problems,” said Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch.
Amnesty International said the draft “raises concerns about Egypt’s commitment to human rights treaties,” specifically ignoring “the rights of women [and] restricting freedom of expression in the name of religion.”
In an interview broadcast on Thursday night, Morsi stressed again that his new powers would expire once the constitution was ratified, a point which Islamist supporters have repeatedly made in favor of his decree last week.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
RSS