An Islamist coalition led by the Muslim Brotherhood called on people across Egypt yesterday to protest in a “Friday of Rejection” following weekly prayers in an early test of Morsi’s ongoing support and how the military will deal with it.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was arrested by Egyptian security forces yesterday in a crackdown against the Islamist movement after the army ousted the country’s first democratically elected president.
The dramatic exit of President Mohamed Morsi was greeted with delight by millions of people on the streets of Cairo and other cities overnight, but there was simmering resentment among Egyptians who opposed military intervention.
Perhaps aware of the risk of a polarised society, the new interim leader, judge Adli Mansour, used his inauguration to hold out an olive branch to the Brotherhood, Morsi’s power base.
“The Muslim Brotherhood are part of this people and are invited to participate in building the nation as nobody will be excluded, and if they respond to the invitation, they will be welcomed,” he said.
Just before he spoke, the air force staged a series of fly pasts in the smoggy skies over Cairo, a stark reminder of the military’s role in the latest upheaval. The stunt, involving dozens of aircraft, was repeated at dusk.
But a senior Brotherhood official said it would not work with “the usurper authorities”.
Another of its politicians said Morsi’s overthrow would push other groups, though not his own, to violent resistance.
Morsi’s removal after a year in office marked another twist in the turmoil that has gripped the Arab world’s most populous country in the two years since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
The UN, the US and some other world powers did not condemn Morsi’s removal as a military coup. To do so might trigger sanctions.
Army intervention was backed by millions of Egyptians, including liberal leaders and religious figures who expect new elections under a revised set of rules.
Egypt’s armed forces have been at the heart of power since officers staged the 1952 overthrow of King Farouk.
The protests that spurred the military to step in this time were rooted in a liberal opposition that lost elections to Islamists.
Their ranks were swelled by anger over broken promises on the economy and shrinking real incomes.
The downfall of Egypt’s first elected leader, who emerged from the “Arab Spring” revolutions that swept the region in 2011, raised questions about the future of political Islam, which only lately seemed triumphant in certain Arab countries.