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Egypt: Military intervenes, removes President Mursi – calls early vote
Immediate past Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi
Egypt’s military has ousted the country’s Islamist president, replacing him with the chief justice of the Supreme constitutional Court, calling for early presidential election and suspending the Islamist-backed constitution.
Army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, said a government of technocrats will be appointed to run the country during a transition period he did not specify.
An aide of ousted President Mohammed Mursi, Ayman Ali, said the former leader has been moved to an undisclosed location. He gave no details.
Cheers erupted among millions of protesters nationwide who were demanding Mursi’s ouster. Fireworks lit the Cairo night sky. Mursi supporters elsewhere in the city shouted “No to military rule.”
A statement on the Egyptian president’s office’s Twitter account has quoted Mursi as calling military measures “represent a full coup categorically rejected by all the free men of our nation.”
His ouster comes after the military set a deadline for Mursi to either work things out with protesters critical of his leadership, or step down.
According to several media accounts, dozens of people have been killed since Sunday in violence between opponents and supports of Mursi, who took office in June last year as Egypt’s first freely elected leader.
In a television address early Wednesday morning, Mursi ignored massive protests calling for him to resign, reminding Egyptians of his election and about the need to protect his constitutional legacy.
The statement showed that Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, who had sought power for 80 years before obtaining it last year, were prepared to run the risk of challenging the army.
Although Mursi remains popular among many Islamist supporters, other Egyptians are angry over what they see as efforts to impose religious controls through the Muslim Brotherhood, and Mursi’s failures to deal with the country’s multiple problems, including a devastated economy.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press