Protests for Egypt's Ousted leader Amid Tension

MID.EastNEWS - CAIRO (AP) ‘Protes untuk Menggulingkan Pemimpin Mesir di tengah-tengah Ketegangan’ Dengan tentera memantapkan keselamatan, puluhan ribu turun ke jalan Jumaat di push ditentukan untuk kembali kepada kuasa menggulingkan pemimpin Islam Mesir, manakala lawan Mohammed Morsi yang diadakan perhimpunan saingan, meningkatkan kebimbangan pusingan segar pertempuran.

Tentera memberi amaran ia tidak akan bertolak ansur dengan mana-mana keganasan dan menghantar jet pejuang menjerit ke atas ibu kota dan helikopter berlegar. Menerbitkan bantahan mereka selama beberapa hari, penyokong Morsi itu berikrar Jumaat akan menjadi penentu dalam kempen mereka untuk cuba menterbalikkan rampasan kuasa ketenteraan yang dikeluarkan presiden pertama negara yang dipilih secara demokrasi selepas setahun di pejabat, berikutan bantahan besar-besaran terhadap beliau.

Tidak seperti demonstrasi lain yang dipegang pada waktu petang selepas berbuka sepanjang hari Ramadan cepat, perhimpunan pro-Morsi berlaku sepanjang hari. Dianjurkan oleh pihak Muslim Ikhwan presiden digulingkan dan digelar "Berbuka Rampasan kuasa," mereka termasuk perarakan di jalan-jalan di Kaherah, di luar pemasangan tentera dan di bandar-bandar lain, termasuk Alexandria dan beberapa wilayah Delta Nil.

Perhimpunan saingan datang hanya beberapa hari selepas Kabinet interim baru mengangkat sumpah yang termasuk wanita, orang Kristian dan ahli-ahli parti liberal menentang Morsi, tetapi tidak Islam. Ikhwan Muslimin telah enggan untuk mengambil bahagian dalam perbincangan dengan kepimpinan interim.

Negara ini telah menjadi amat polarisasi sejak penyingkiran autocrat lama Hosni Mubarak pada bulan Februari 2011, berikutan perhimpunan besar-besaran. Bahagian-bahagian hanya lebih mendalam 3 Julai rampasan kuasa tentera yang disokong oleh berjuta-juta yang menuduh Morsi menyalahgunakan kuasa dan memberi terlalu banyak mempengaruhi kepada kumpulan Ikhwan Muslimin beliau.

Perhimpunan Jumaat bertepatan dengan hari ke-10 bulan puasa Ramadan, yang Mesir meraikan sebagai hari angkatan tentera mereka melintasi Terusan Suez dalam perang tahun 1973 dengan Israel. Serangan kejutan membawa kepada pemulangan Semenanjung Sinai, yang telah diduduki oleh Israel.

Majlis tersebut adalah peluang untuk kem-kem saingan untuk memberi tumpuan kepada tentera, yang telah memainkan peranan penting dalam menghapuskan Morsi. Pada perhimpunan pro-Morsi, penunjuk perasaan memuji kuasa tentera tetapi menarik perbezaan dengan kepimpinan, yang mereka dituduh melakukan pengkhianatan untuk beralih terhadap Morsi.

Mengibarkan bendera Mesir dan gambar-gambar pemimpin digulingkan, mereka melaungkan slogan anti ketua tentera Jeneral Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi. "El-Sissi adalah pengkhianat!" mereka menjerit. "Morsi adalah presiden kita!" Penganjur dimainkan ucapan lama Morsi itu, merujuk kepada beliau sebagai pemimpin negara dan panglima tertinggi angkatan tentera.

"Masalah-tahun pertama mungkin telah diselesaikan dengan dialog, tetapi pembangkang sentiasa ditolak," kata 28 tahun Osama Youssef, yang mengembara ke Kaherah dari wilayah timur Sharqiya untuk menunjukkan sokongan beliau untuk Morsi. "Pembangkang tidak berjaya mendapat kuasa melalui langkah-langkah perlembagaan, maka ia memilih untuk mengambil kuasa dengan mengadakan satu rampasan kuasa tentera."

Sayed el-Banna, ahli Ikhwan 45 tahun yang datang ke Kaherah dari wilayah Delta al-Sharqia berkata, ia adalah penting untuk mempunyai ramai orang di jalanan. "Ia adalah untuk menghantar mesej kepada mereka dalam tentera yang tidak bersetuju dengan el-Sissi untuk berdiri dengan kami dan menyokong kami," katanya.

Sementara itu, beberapa ribu penunjuk perasaan anti-Morsi berkumpul di Dataran Tahrir, Kaherah dan di luar dua istana presiden untuk meraikan keuntungan mereka. "Rakyat dan tentera dan polis bersama-sama menentang keganasan," mengisytiharkan banner disengat di seluruh peringkat ditubuhkan di istana presiden.

Helikopter tentera terbang overhead turun kupon hadiah dan bendera Mesir pada perhimpunan di Tahrir Square dan koir polis dilakukan lagu nasionalis dalam parti yang berlangsung lewat malam. Kehadiran di jalan-jalan sisi saingan telah menimbulkan kebimbangan pertempuran, dan tentera dan polis telah dikerahkan banyak di kawasan-kawasan di mana kedua-dua orang ramai mungkin berlanggar. Dalam satu insiden, berhampiran istana presiden, pasukan keselamatan melemparkan gas pemedih mata pada perarakan menghampiri oleh Morsi penyokong untuk mengelakkan ia daripada sampai ke kawasan di mana penunjuk perasaan anti-Morsi telah mengadakan perhimpunan mereka sendiri.

Hanya insiden kecil keganasan dilaporkan di ibu negara. Penyokong Pro-Morsi dan lawan menjerit antara satu sama lain selepas solat Jumaat di utama Masjid Al-Azhar dan polis menahan enam penunjuk perasaan Islam untuk membuang batu. Secara berasingan, seorang lelaki ditikam dan dimasukkan ke hospital apabila ramai penyokong presiden digulingkan itu mempersoalkan identiti dan mendapati dia adalah seorang anggota polis dalam pakaian awam.

Di Semenanjung Sinai, di mana militan lama aktif di kawasan tersebut telah meningkatkan serangan mereka terhadap pasukan keselamatan berikutan penyingkiran Morsi, dua orang awam terbunuh apabila militan bersenjata melepaskan tembakan roket di pusat pemeriksaan tentera, tetapi melanda kediaman berdekatan.

Dalam usaha yang jelas untuk memperluaskan asas sokongan mereka, ahli-ahli Ikhwan merayu kepada orang menyertai perhimpunan mereka, berkeras rampasan kuasa itu adalah kira-kira yang akan diterbalikkan. "Kepada mereka yang teragak-agak, bangun, masa untuk akhir rampasan kuasa hampir," senior Ikhwan pemimpin Essam el-Erian menulis dalam posting di laman Facebook beliau.

Yasser Meshren, seorang penyokong Ikhwan yang datang ke Kaherah dari wilayah selatan Bani Sueif, menuduh tentera yang menipu rakyat dengan memantau pilihan raya hanya untuk kemudian keluarkan Morsi, membubarkan parlimen interim negara dan menggantung perlembagaan, yang telah diluluskan dalam referendum.

"Anda mencuri ibu saya dan suara kakak saya," kata Meshren kepimpinan tentera. Semasa perarakan mereka, penunjuk perasaan membuat usaha bersepadu untuk membezakan antara pemimpin-pemimpin tentera dan tentera. Pada satu ketika, sekumpulan penyokong pro-Morsi menghampiri pusat pemeriksaan tentera menawarkan mereka bunga.

Polis dan pasukan tentera dan kenderaan perisai dikerahkan banyak di Kaherah sekitar pemasangan keselamatan dan tentera, rumah mahkamah, dan pintu masuk di ibu negara. Jet pejuang terbang ke atas penunjuk perasaan dan jurucakap tentera Kolonel Ahmed Mohammed Ali mengeluarkan amaran tegas terhadap Facebook, memberitahu orang awam tidak menimbulkan sebagai anggota tentera atau pemasangan tentera pendekatan atau tentera, berkata sesiapa yang melakukan kematian begitu membahayakan.

Tentera juga menurun risalah amaran terhadap keganasan sebagai orang ramai yang kira-kira 400 penunjuk perasaan pro-Morsi berarak melalui bandar utama di utara Sinai ini el-Arish. Risalah menggesa orang ramai untuk melindungi Semenanjung Sinai daripada "pengganas" dan memberikan dua nombor bagi orang-orang untuk memanggil melaporkan tingkah laku yang mencurigakan.

Sementara itu, Ikhwan berkata, tujuh pemimpin kumpulan ibu bapa, termasuk bekas speaker parlimen dan Salafi pendakwah ultraconservative, telah dihantar ke sebuah penjara yang dikawal ketat, satu langkah yang kumpulan itu adalah tidak sah kerana orang-orang yang belum dikenakan. Mereka telah dituduh, antara lain, menghasut keganasan.

Presiden digulingkan, yang telah digantikan oleh pemimpin interim Adly Mansour, telah dibenarkan berkomunikasi di kemudahan tentera yang tidak didedahkan sejak kejatuhannya. Beliau tidak pernah disabitkan dengan sebarang jenayah. Saluran TV Ikhwan telah diambil dari udara bersama-sama dengan saluran Islam yang lain dilihat sebagai bersimpati kepada kumpulan. Mesir sekutu Al-Jazeera telah diserbu oleh pasukan keselamatan, dan pada hari Jumaat, isyarat saluran itu, bersama-sama dengan saluran perdana bahasa Inggeris dan Arab berita, telah bersela terganggu. Sebab-sebab gangguan tidak jelas.

Pro-Morsi penunjuk perasaan Mostafa Fathi, akauntan 33 tahun, berkata beliau melihat penyingkiran Morsi dan penutupan saluran TV sebagai tanda-tanda negara itu menyasarkan Islam, seperti yang berlaku semasa pemerintahan berhampiran tiga dekad-panjang Mubarak.

"Kami tidak mahu kembali ke negara polis atau keadaan ketidakadilan."

Associated Press penulis Aya Batrawy menyumbang kepada laporan ini.

Protests for Egypt's Ousted leader Amid Tension

MID.EastNEWS - CAIRO (AP) With the military beefing up security, tens of thousands took to the streets Friday in a determined push for the return to power of Egypt's ousted Islamist leader, while Mohammed Morsi's opponents staged rival rallies, raising fears of a fresh round of clashes.

The army warned it wouldn't tolerate any violence and sent fighter jets screaming over the capital and helicopters hovering over the marches. Publicizing their protests for days, Morsi's supporters vowed Friday would be decisive in their campaign to try to reverse the military coup that removed the country's first democratically elected president after a year in office, following massive protests against him.

Unlike other demonstrations held in the evening after breaking the daylong Ramadan fast, the pro-Morsi rallies took place throughout the day. Organized by the ousted president's Muslim Brotherhood party and dubbed "Breaking the Coup," they included marches in Cairo's streets, outside military installations and in other cities, including Alexandria and several Nile Delta provinces.

The rival gatherings came just days after a new interim Cabinet was sworn in that includes women, Christians and members of a liberal coalition opposed to Morsi, but no Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood has refused to take part in talks with the interim leadership.

The country has been deeply polarized since the ouster of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, following massive rallies. The divisions only deepened over the July 3 military coup supported by millions who accused Morsi of abusing his power and giving too much influence to his Muslim Brotherhood group.

Friday's rallies coincided with the 10th day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which Egyptians celebrate as the day their armed forces crossed the Suez Canal in the 1973 war with Israel. The surprise assault led to the return of the Sinai Peninsula, which had been occupied by Israel.

The occasion was a chance for the rival camps to focus on the military, which was instrumental in removing Morsi. At pro-Morsi gatherings, protesters extolled the virtue of the armed forces but drew a distinction with its leadership, which they accused of treason for turning against Morsi.

Waving Egyptian flags and pictures of the ousted leader, they chanted slogans against army chief Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi. "El-Sissi is a traitor!" they shouted. "Morsi is our president!" Organizers played Morsi's old speeches, referring to him as the nation's leader and the supreme commander of the armed forces.

"The problems of the first years could have been solved by dialogue, but the opposition always refused," said 28-year-old Osama Youssef, who traveled to Cairo from the eastern province of Sharqiya to show his support for Morsi. "The opposition didn't succeed in getting power through constitutional measures, so it chose to take power by staging a military coup."

Sayed el-Banna, a 45-year-old Brotherhood member who came to Cairo from the Delta province of al-Sharqia, said it was important to have many people in the streets. "It is to send a message to those in the army who disagree with el-Sissi to stand with us and support us," he said.

Meanwhile, several thousand anti-Morsi protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square and outside two presidential palaces to celebrate their gain. "The people and the army and the police together against terrorism," declared a banner stung across a stage set up at the presidential palace.

Army choppers flying overhead dropped gift coupons and Egyptian flags on the gathering in Tahrir Square and a police choir performed nationalist songs in a party that lasted late into the night. The presence in the streets of the rival sides had raised fears of clashes, and military and police were deployed heavily in areas where the two crowds might collide. In one incident, near the presidential palace, security forces lobbed tear gas at an approaching march by Morsi supporters to prevent it from reaching an area where anti-Morsi demonstrators were holding their own rally.

Only minor incidents of violence were reported in the capital. Pro-Morsi supporters and opponents shouted at one another after Friday prayers in the main Al-Azhar Mosque and police detained six Islamist protesters for throwing rocks. Separately, a man was stabbed and hospitalized when a crowd of the deposed president's supporters questioned his identity and found out he was a policeman in civilian clothing.

In the Sinai peninsula, where militants long active in the area have intensified their attacks against security forces following Morsi's ouster, two civilians were killed when armed militants fired rockets at a military checkpoint, but hit a residence nearby.

In a clear attempt to widen their base of support, Brotherhood members appealed to people join their rally, insisting the coup was about to be reversed. "To those hesitating, wake up, the time for the end of the coup is nearing," senior Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian wrote in a posting on his Facebook page.

Yasser Meshren, a Brotherhood supporter who came to Cairo from the southern province of Bani Sueif, accused the military of tricking the people by overseeing the elections only to then remove Morsi, disband the country's interim parliament and suspend the constitution, which was approved in a referendum.

"You stole my mother and my sister's voice," Meshren said of the military leadership. During their marches, the protesters made a concerted effort to distinguish between the leaders of the military and the troops. At one point, a group of pro-Morsi supporters approached a military checkpoint offering them flowers.

Police and military troops and armored vehicles were deployed heavily in Cairo around security and military installations, court houses, and the capital's entrances. Fighter jets flew over the protesters and military spokesman Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali issued a stern warning on Facebook, telling civilians not to pose as military personnel or approach military installations or troops, saying anyone doing so risked death.

The military also dropped flyers warning against violence as a crowd of some 400 pro-Morsi protesters marched through northern Sinai's main city of el-Arish. The flyers urged people to protect the Sinai Peninsula from "terrorists" and provided two numbers for people to call to report suspicious behavior.

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood said seven leaders of its parent group, including the former speaker of the parliament and an ultraconservative Salafi preacher, were transported to a heavily guarded prison, a move the group said was illegal because the men have not yet been charged. They have been accused, among other things, of inciting violence.

The ousted president, who has been replaced by interim leader Adly Mansour, has been held incommunicado at an undisclosed military facility since his ouster. He has not been charged with any crimes. The Brotherhood's TV channel has been taken off the air along with other Islamic channels seen as sympathetic to the group. Al-Jazeera's Egypt affiliate was raided by security forces, and on Friday, the channel's signal, along with its flagship English and Arabic news channels, were intermittently interrupted. The reasons for the disruptions were not clear.

Pro-Morsi protester Mostafa Fathi, a 33-year-old accountant, said he viewed Morsi's ouster and the closure of the TV channels as signs the country was targeting Islamists, as it did during Mubarak's near three-decade-long rule.

"We don't want to go back to a police state or a state of injustice."

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy contributed to this report.