The first senior US official to visit Egypt since the army toppled its elected president was snubbed by both Islamists and their opponents yesterday.

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns arrived in a divided capital where both sides are furious at the United States, the superpower which supports Egypt with $1.5 billion in annual aid, mostly for the army that deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi two weeks ago.

Crisis in the Arab world’s most populous state, which has a peace treaty with Israel and controls the strategic Suez Canal, has alarmed allies in the region and the West. Thousands of supporters of the ousted leader took to the streets yesterday.

Washington, never comfortable with the rise of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, has so far refused to say whether it views Morsi’s removal as a coup, which would require it to halt aid.

America offers only words, not practical support to democracy

The State Department said Burns would meet “civil society groups” as well as government officials, but the Islamist Nour Party and the Tamarud anti-Morsi protest movement both said they had turned down invitations to meet Burns.

“First, they need to acknowledge the new system,” Tamarud founder Mahmoud Badr said of the Americans. “Secondly, they must apologise for their support for the Muslim Brotherhood’s party and terrorism. Then we can think about it,” he told Reuters.

In a further slight, Badr posted a copy of his invitation, including the US embassy’s telephone number, on the internet.

Nour, sometime allies of Morsi’s Brotherhood who have accepted the army takeover, said they had rejected meeting Burns because of “unjustified” US meddling in Egypt’s affairs.

The Brotherhood’s political party said it had no meeting planned with Burns. It was not immediately clear whether it was invited. While its opponents accuse Washington of backing Morsi, the Brotherhood suspects US involvement in his removal.

Burns did meet Adli Mansour, a judge installed as interim President by the army, and Hazem el-Beblawi, a liberal economist named interim Prime Minister. Beblawi is setting up a temporary Cabinet staffed mainly by technocrats to lead the country under a “road map” foreseeing elections in about six months.

Islamists, who have maintained a vigil demanding Morsi be reinstated, held a mass protest yesterday. Demonstrations in Cairo have been largely peaceful for the past week after at least 92 people were killed in the days after Morsi was toppled.

Two rows of armoured personnel carriers were in place near the mosque square in northeast Cairo where Morsi supporters have maintained their vigil. Barbed wire was blocking the street leading from the protest site to the Republican Guard barracks, scene of the worst violence a week ago when uniformed snipers were filmed firing from the rooftops into crowds.

As thousands of protesters assembled yesterday, a group of women clapped and chanted: “Down with the military regime! Down with the dictator! President Morsi, no one else!”

Demonstrators fasting for the holy month of Ramadan rested in the shadow of tents reading the Koran. Army helicopters had flown above overnight, dropping fliers exhorting the crowd to renounce violence and end their sit-in.

Abdel Khalid Abu Zeinia, a 50-year-old accountant camped at the square for 11 days in support of Morsi, said of Burns’s visit: “America works against the Egyptian people’s interests. America’s only concern is its interests, and Israel’s. America offers only words, not practical support to democracy.”

If Burns drove through downtown a few miles away, he might have seen a giant banner with a portrait of US ambassador Anne Patterson and the message “Go home, witch!”. It was hung by Morsi’s foes, who are as angry with America as his supporters.

Morsi is being held incommunicado at an undisclosed location.

He has not been charged with a crime but the authorities say they are investigating him over complaints of inciting violence, spying and wrecking the economy. Scores of Morsi supporters were rounded up after violence last week.

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