Egypt anti-government protests grow

[elbows]

25 Mubarak loyalists who were in court on attempted murder and manslaughter charges related to the camel battle have been acquitted.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/10/2012101018616938632.html

 

[elbows]

Consequences of the camel acquittals:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/10/20121011171714862896.html

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Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has removed the country's prosecutor general a day after all 24 defendants in the Cairo "Camel Battle" case were acquitted, state television has reported.​

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Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, the country's top prosecutor, was named as the country's ambassador to the Vatican on Thursday.​

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A presidential spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the decision to reassign Mahmoud was in direct response to the demands of the Egyptian people.​

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He also said that a fact-finding commission set up by President Morsi earlier in the year would shortly be releasing "more facts and new evidence" that would lead to new cases against additional defendants and retrials.​

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Protests in Cairo​

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Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Cairo against the acquittal of the Mubarak-era officials.​

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The protesters chanted slogans against the verdict, accusing the judges of "complicity" with the leaders of the former regime. "The people want to purify justice," they shouted.​

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The Youth Movement of April 6, which were the first to protest against Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood, had called for demonstrations on Thursday and Friday, demanding that the accused in this case be "retried."​

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Various political parties and groups also have called for demonstrations on Friday against the country's Constituent Assembly, to demand that a more representative body be formed and justice be done for protesters killed or tortured last year.​

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[elbows]

Its been kicking off, molotovs in Tahrir square side-streets apparently.

 

[elbows]

So after all this time we finally got a notable clash between pro and anti MB protesters.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/10/20121012133639244689.html

Clashes have erupted in Cairo's Tahrir Square as supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi tried to wrest control of the iconic square in rival rallies.​

The state news agency on Friday cited a doctor at a hospital near Tahrir saying 41 people have been injured as protesters showered stones at each other in some of the worst violence over the country's new leader.​

The clashes started after Brotherhood supporters tore down a podium belonging to a group that was chanting anti-Morsi slogans, witnesses said.​

Morsi's supporters, mainly his powerful Muslim Brotherhood movement, had called their rally to denounce this week's acquittals of Hosni Mubarak-era officials.​

His opponents, a coalition of liberal and secular leaning groups, had previously called their own rally to denounce Islamist control over a body drafting the new constitution, and Morsi's performance in office.​

"Down with the Supreme Guide's rule," Morsi's opponents chanted, referring to Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie.​

Some wobbles within the elites too, since the prosecutor general has refused to step down and the judiciary are still rather unhappy.

 

[elbows]

Morsi had to back down over the prosecutor general:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19935961

President Mohammed Mursi of Egypt has agreed to allow the Mubarak-era chief prosecutor to keep his job after an embarrassing public row.
Spokesmen for Mr Mursi and the prosecutor, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, confirmed an agreement had been reached at talks in the capital, Cairo.
Mr Mahmoud earlier returned to work, escorted by judges and lawyers.

 

[elbows]

Not sure what else I've missed since I got bored of talking to myself about Egypt, but anyways.

http://www.egyptindependent.com/new...t-pound-float-officials-deny-devaluation-talk

An October report from IMF’s Tokyo meeting, which Egyptian officials attended, recommends that the government allow the country’s currency to respond to market forces as a short-term policy solution to closing the widening budget deficit.
“Allowing the currency to move in line with market forces — while avoiding excessive short-term volatility — would help protect international reserves and competitiveness, while mobilizing foreign financing on favorable terms could bridge temporary balance of payments gaps,” the report, titled “Arab Countries in Transition: Economic Outlook and Key Challenges,” said.

 

[dennisr]

still listening/reading mate - your updates are greatly appreciated

 

[teqniq]

I put this here as it has some relevance to the thread, Gulf states are blaming the MB in Egypt for the unrest in the region but the way things are looking Kuwait may end up with it's own thread at some point:

....With the exception of Qatar, the Gulf states are now openly blaming Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as the source of their domestic woes. After the "dignity" demonstration, the Kuwaiti government said they were looking for three members of the Brotherhood. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, which has locked up 64 members of a local Islamist group al-Islah, used his address to the United Nations to claim that the brothers were plotting to undermine governments in the region. The Brotherhood is now on the agenda of the next meeting of the Gulf co-operation council.....

 

[elbows]

Interesting. I'll supplement that article with this one:

http://www.newser.com/article/da2bc...brings-unusual-alarm-from-western-allies.html

 

[teqniq]

Crazy stuff going on in Cairo right now. It's nearly a year ago that The Battle of Mohamed Mahmoud Street occurred and there's a mass demo going on in part to commemorate that. Things turned ugly however fairly early on and currently the police along with the usual teargas and birdshot are lobbing petrol bombs and rocks from the roofs of nearby buildings.

 

[elbows]

There has been at least one fatality.

@Beltrew
April 6 saying their member Mohamed Gaber died from bird shot wounds - body at Qasr El-Aini hospital #Egypt #Cairopic.twitter.com/4N1n8T36

 

[elbows]

IMF loan agreement.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/58670.aspx

Egypt has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund's technical team, currently on a visit to Cairo, for a $4.8 billion loan, the fund announced Tuesday.

The agreement is expected to open the door to some $14.5 billion in financing to allow Egypt to implement an economic programme that it has proposed to the IMF.

The IMF said in a statement that agreement had been reached for "a 22-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in the amount of about $4.8 billion (equivalent to about 3.16 billion SDR [Special Drawing Rights], or 335 per cent of Egypt's quota in the IMF)."
The loan proposal will be presented to the IMF's board of directors for final approval on 19 December, according to Hany Kadry, assistant to Egypt's finance minister who is responsible for IMF negotiations.

 

[teqniq]

If I was them I would avoid the IMF like the plague.

 

[elbows]

Indeed, for all the usual reasons, but their financial state since the uprising has made this move very likely for a long time. Currency devaluation has also long been reported to be on the cards, as are cuts in fuel subsidies which have so far mostly only been announced for certain businesses.

 

[elbows]

Al-Jazeera's office in Tahrir square has been firebombed by protesters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...7c85de-33c5-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html

 

[teqniq]

Lots more fighting today/tonight in and around Tahrir:

tarekshalaby: Left #Tahrir. The resistence to SCAF & Morsi's thugs is crucial. I'm even more optimistic about Friday. Victory in #Jan25 is inevitable.

 

[teqniq]

Morsy issues new constitutional declaration

Twitter is going nuts about this, most of it pretty disparaging

 

[elbows]

Oh so thats his answer to his previous cockup when trying to get rid of the prosecutor. 1 is ok but the rest will scare people.

 

[elbows]

I doubt the judiciary will take this lying down, and the timing may backfire as well given the ongoing clashes and tomorrow being Friday. Perhaps he wanted to get it out of the way with one big protest mess. Or perhaps the fact there are still problems with the constitution-writing committee forced him to act now.

 

[teqniq]

Analysis of Morsy's declaration from the Egypt Independent

There's likelihood of a really big demo at Tahrir today what with it being Friday as well

Morsy and the “nationalization” of the Revolution

 

[elbows]

Apparently several Muslim Brotherhood offices have been torched.

 

[Balbi]

Morsi given the nod by the U.S then

 

[Random]

What is it that the liberals don't like about this declaration? He seems to be shoring up his support versus the generals and also trying to appease the protestors.

 

[Balbi]

The immunity for legal challenges to laws he's passed already seems a bit iffy.

 

[elbows]

Apparently several Muslim Brotherhood offices have been torched.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/D...dents+powers+forming+Cairo/7600119/story.html

State TV says Morsi opponents set fire to the offices in the Suez Canal cities of Suez, Port Said and Ismailia.

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[teqniq]

and Alexandria:

LaurenBohn: Only mnths ago when I was @ MBhood's FJP HQ in Alex, and they had lauded the site "A fruit of the #Jan25 rev." And now http://twitter.com/3araab/status/271950319154507776/photo/1

 

[elbows]

What is it that the liberals don't like about this declaration? He seems to be shoring up his support versus the generals and also trying to appease the protestors.

We dont hear about the generals anymore, not since he retired Tantawi. The struggle these days is largely framed as Morsi v the judiciary.

It is certainly complicated and yes there are a range of things announced that are supposed to appeal to a variety of protesters. But its the sweeping powers that freak people out, they are understandably rather sensitive about anything resembling dictatorship.

Not just the liberals either, this latest thing has united major opposition figureheads in a manner seldom seen since the original uprising:

By midnight, Egypt’s opposition had issued multiple statements, including one unified forceful statement in a news conference featuring center-stage the rare sight of opposition leaders and former presidential candidates Mohammed El-Baradei, Amr Moussa and Hamdeen Sabahi (who were just ironically meeting with Morsi recently in a presidential initiative to promote national consensus) and many others calling for the immediate annulment of this declaration, a reformed constituent assembly, a law on transitional justice, while calling for strong protests all over Egypt. Downtown, clashes have already renewed and reportedly intensified in Tahrir, while the television features a live feed from the iconic square showing a big sign stating: “No Ikhwan Allowed Inside.”

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/morsi-decree-constitution-power.html

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[8ball]

Ah, yes - dictatorship in order to protect our freedoms from the nasty counter-revolutionaries - bound to end well...

 

[weltweit]

Well iirc, it was said at the election that you only need elect the muslim brotherhood once.

 

[teqniq]

@elbows funny you should mention generals, the army is being used to remove people from an island possibly at the behest of property developers. Not directly linked to today's events:

RiverDryFilm: The Egyptian Army want Qorsaya Island. @Mosireen's report on their recent violence now has English subs #Egypt