标题: [转帖] BBC:Egypt's Mohammed Morsi defiant as protest deaths rise [打印本页] 作者: 三苗 时间: 2013-7-3 13:31 标题: BBC:Egypt's Mohammed Morsi defiant as protest deaths rise
本帖最后由 三苗 于 2013-7-3 13:33 编辑
3 July 2013 Last updated at 04:35 GMT
Egypt's Mohammed Morsi has insisted he remains the country's legitimate president, as mass protests claimed more lives in the capital, Cairo.
In a late-night TV address, Mr Morsi rejected an army ultimatum that the crisis be resolved by Wednesday.
Mr Morsi said he would not be dictated to and urged protesters to remain peaceful. However, at least 16 people died at one pro-Morsi rally.
The army earlier leaked details of a draft "roadmap" for Egypt's future.
Details of the plan leaked to the BBC outlined new presidential elections, the suspension of the new constitution and the dissolution of parliament.
The army had warned on Monday that it would step in unless a solution was found, giving Mr Morsi 48 hours to find agreement with the opposition.
That ultimatum expires around 16:30 (15:30 BST) on Wednesday.
However, the unrest shows no sign of abating. The health ministry said that 16 people had been killed and 200 injured at a pro-Morsi rally near Cairo University overnight.
Eyewitness Mostafa Abdelnasser told Agence France-Presse that Morsi supporters had come under attack by unidentified men carrying firearms.
'Give my life' In a 45-minute address on state television, Mr Morsi said he accepted the right to peaceful protest, but said respect for constitutional order was the "only guarantee against further bloodshed".
"When there's violence and thuggery I must act," he said.
Mr Morsi said he would "give my life" to defend constitutional legitimacy,
He blamed the unrest on corruption and remnants of the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak, and called for protesters to respect the rule of law.
Mr Morsi urged the establishment of a committee of reconciliation as well as a charter of ethics for the media, and said he was prepared to meet all groups and individuals as part of a national dialogue process.
But Mohammed Abdelaziz, a leader of the Tamarod (Rebel) opposition campaign, told AFP: "This is a president threatening his own people. We don't consider him the president of Egypt."
BBC Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly says Mr Morsi's statement makes it harder than ever to see what will happen as the countdown to the army's deadline ticks on inexorably. Continue reading the main story Tamarod (Rebel)
The Tamarod movement says more than 22 million people have signed a petition complaining that:
Security has not been restored since the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak
The poor "have no place" in society
The government has had to "beg" the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $4.8bn loan to help shore up the public finances
There has been "no justice" for people killed by security forces during the uprising and at anti-government protests since then
"No dignity is left" for Egyptians or their country
The economy has "collapsed", with growth poor and inflation high
He says the president's opponents are celebrating as though he has already been forced from office, but Mr Morsi and his Islamist supporters are not ready to tamely accept that fate.
There were outbreaks of violence in several parts of the capital on Tuesday, with casualties reported at hospitals in the north, south and centre of Cairo.
More clashes were reported across the country as leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood - the Islamist party from which Mr Morsi hails - urged their supporters on to the streets.
On Monday, eight people died as activists stormed and ransacked the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square in central Cairo on Tuesday afternoon to demand Mr Morsi step down.
But demonstrations that had been jubilant when the army's ultimatum was interpreted as a coup-in-the-making turned increasingly confrontational later in the day.
In the wake of the latest unrest, the UK Foreign Office has changed its travel advice for Egypt recommending against all but essential travel to the country except for resorts on the Red Sea in South Sinai and in the Red Sea governorate.
Mr Morsi earlier met the head of the armed forces, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for a second consecutive day. They did not give any details of the talks, which also included Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.
Military sources told the BBC the president's position was becoming "weaker" with every passing minute and suggested that under the draft plan, he could be replaced by a council of cross-party civilians and technocrats ahead of new elections.
Mr Morsi was put under further pressure by the resignation of six ministers from his government on Monday, including Foreign Minister Kamel Amr.
On Tuesday, the spokesmen for the presidency and the cabinet were also reported to have quit.
The UN high commissioner for human rights called on the president to engage in a "serious national dialogue" to end the political crisis, and said nothing should be done to undermine the democratic process.
The unrest has escalated since Sunday when Tamarod supporters rallied nationwide, urging the president to step down on the first anniversary of his coming to power.
Mr Morsi became Egypt's first Islamist president on 30 June 2012, after winning an election considered free and fair following the 2011 revolution that toppled Mubarak.
However, his first year in office has been marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy.
Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists call for general strike until the fall of the regime
Today, Sunday 30 June, comes as the third thunderous wave of the great January Revolution. Then millions of Egyptians came out demanding bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity in order to overthrow the regime of tyranny and exploitation.
Thousands of martyrs and wounded paid a price in blood for the victory of the revolution which threw down the head of the regime and his cronies.
After a year of rule by the Muslim Brotherhood, we find they have chosen to walk the same path: they are against the people and with the bosses.
They have substituted Muslim Brotherhood billionaire Khairat al-Shater for the old regime's business leader Ahmed Ezz and are seeking reconciliation with those who have pillaged Egypt for 30 years.
We have seen them go begging to the International Monetary Fund and the countries of the world. We have heard the lies of the Brotherhood's “Renaissance Project” electoral programme and seen them fall into the arms of the US and “our friend” Israeli president Shimon Peres.
Dozens of martyrs and injured have fallen at the hands of the Brotherhood. This is a failed regime, headed by a lying president who even breaks promises to his Salafist allies.
The people have decreed the downfall of this failed regime. They have withdrawn their confidence because it has betrayed the goals of the revolution, working instead for the benefit of the Brotherhood itself.
But we must learn the lessons of January.
The biggest mistake we made was to leave the streets with nothing more than promises from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which made a deal under American auspices to deliver the country to the Brotherhood in return for a safe exit for its leaders who would not be held to account.
Today we will not leave the streets until we have achieved our demands:
•The overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood’s failed regime and the withdrawal of confidence from its president Mohamed Mursi
•The formation of a revolutionary government to manage the transitional period, the first of whose priorities will be the issue of social justice and security
•The head of the revolutionary government shall be barred from candidacy in early presidential elections
After our great revolution, Egypt deserves revolutionary democracy, in order to achieve freedom, social justice and national dignity. Egyptians cannot remain forever trapped between two failed alternatives, the Brotherhood or the military whether of Mubarak or Field Marshall Tantawi.
The Revolutionary Socialists will come out with the masses and the revolutionaries in the third wave of the revolution, after the first two waves overthrew Mubarak and the Military Council, in order to get rid of this third version of the regime of tyranny and exploitation.
We call on all revolutionaries in Egypt to unite behind the goals of the January Revolution.
We call on all Egyptians who work for a wage to join a general strike in order to win the battle against the regime of tyranny and exploitation, just as strikes won our battle against Mubarak on 9 and 10 February 2011.
Glory to the martyrs – Victory to the Revolution – Shame on the murderers
All power and wealth to the people!
This is a translation of a Revolutionary Socialists statement
