» 07/11/2012 09:58 EGYPT Thousands of Islamists in the streets against the Supreme Court held hostage by the military The Court annulled the presidential decree to restore the parliament last night. For Islamists the decision is political and has nothing to do with respect for the Constitution. The majority of judges linked to former Mubarak regime.
Cairo (AsiaNews /
Agencies) - Thousands of people, led by Islamist leaders, took to the streets of
Tahrir Square today to protest against Supreme Court which yesterday annulled the
decree amended by Mohammed Morsi to restore the parliament majority, which is Islamist.
The Court's decision was in response to the legislative dilemma of recent days
after the signing of a Presidential Decree, but which opens a new conflict
between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Supreme Council of the armed forces. In
recent days, leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have appealed to their
supporters asking them to join them in the fight against the excessive power of
the military, accused of attempting a coup.
According to Morsi supporters, the judgment of the Court is political, and
allows the military to remain in power for another two months, until new
parliamentary elections. "All judges are part of the former regime - said
one of the protesters - they will never do anything against the military."
Morsi's presidential decree was a symbolic move to force the defense
establishment to hand over power to civilians as promised after the fall of
Mubarak in February 2011. The meeting convened yesterday lasted only a few
minutes and was deserted by nearly a third of the deputies, mostly members of
liberal parties and movements opposed to the sinister move of the Muslim
Brotherhood. Local sources said that if this situation continues, Egypt will
become hostage to two opposing powers, who have only their interests at heart
and not those of the country. "The feeling - they say - is that nothing
has changed a year after the Arab Spring".
Meanwhile, Morsi landed this morning in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) on his first official
visit to a foreign country. Relations between the Muslim Brotherhood and the
Wahabi kingdom are cold. The keepers of the sacred places of Islam are
suspicious of more moderate stances of Egyptian Islamists. Relations between
the two countries have deteriorated in recent weeks after a protest organized
by some Egyptian activists to demand the release of a Saudi human rights lawyer
arrested without reason by the authorities in Riyadh.
