Call for calm in divided Egypt
Egypt’s military has appealed for conciliation and warned against revenge attacks after it toppled president Mohamed Morsi, as police rounded up senior Islamists ahead of planned rallies by Morsi’s supporters.
The military published the statement on its spokesman’s Facebook page on Thursday as scores were injured in clashes between Morsi’s supporters and opponents ahead of planned rallies in support of the Islamist on Friday.
The clashes broke out hours after chief justice Adly Mansour, 67, was sworn in as interim president until new elections, at a ceremony broadcast live from the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The Islamists accuse the military of conducting a brazen coup against Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected but controversial president, following massive protests calling for the Islamist’s ouster.
The military statement said “exceptional and autocratic measures against any political group” should be avoided, even as security forces rounded up leaders of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Morsi himself was “preventively detained” by the military, a senior officer had told AFP early on Thursday, hours after his overthrow the night before, suggesting the ousted president might face trial.
“The armed forces believe that the forgiving nature and manners of the Egyptian people, and the eternal values of Islam, do not allow us to turn to revenge and gloating,” the army said in its statement.
The United States on Thursday pressed Egyptian officials to avoid the “arbitrary arrests” of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and his supporters, a US administration official said.
Morsi’s supporters clashed again with his opponents on Thursday, in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, home to the former president’s extended family.
Dozens of people were wounded in the violence, in which birdshot and stones were used, medics said.
Police arrested the Brotherhood’s supreme leader Mohammed Badie “for inciting the killing of protesters”, a security official told AFP.
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Former supreme guide Mahdi Akef was also arrested, state television reported.
A judicial source said the prosecution would on Monday begin questioning Brotherhood members, including Morsi, for “insulting the judiciary”.
Other leaders of the movement would be questioned on the same charges, including the head of its political arm Saad al-Katatni, Mohammed al-Beltagui, Gamal Gibril and Taher Abdel Mohsen.
Morsi and 35 other Brotherhood leaders have also been banned from travel.
