Egyptians who helped overthrow a 29-year dictatorship in a widely-hailed revolution have now given the country's first democratically elected president one day to step down from office.
In a statement posted Monday on its official facebook page, Tamarod (the "rebel" campaign") demanded that if President Mohamed Morsy doesn't leave office by Tuesday, the group will begin a civil disobedience movement, call for nationwide protests and march on the presidential palace where Morsy's administration is running affairs.
If the last few days have been any indication, Tamarod's deadline will most likely be ignored.
Both sides -- the anti-government demonstrators and Morsy's supporters-- have dug in their heels.
And the results have been deadly.
On Monday, protesters stormed the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the party that Morsy led before his election. Armed with Molotov cocktails, the mob set the office on fire, shouting, "The people has toppled the regime."
A day earlier, five people were killed and 613 wounded in confrontations between the two sides, Egypt's official news agency reported.
On the one hand
Those calling for Morsy's ouster say he has hijacked the gains made in the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak and has pushed aside moderate voices.They say Morsy's policies are to blame for a breakdown in law and order, for an economy that's gone south, and for a gas shortage that has Egyptians waiting at the pumps for hours.
On the other
Those supporting the president say he is the people's choice and refer to the 13 million votes he earned in elections held exactly a year ago Sunday. They say he inherited a broken system and should be given time to fix it.
"We're not leaving and the president is staying," one supporter told CNN. "We believe in democracy. If people don't like him, they can vote him out in three years."
Deadly results
Periodically, the two sides have clashed and the results have been deadly -- even before the Sunday clashes.
On Friday, Andrew Pochter, a 21-year-old American in Alexandria to teach children English, was stabbed to death while watching the demonstrations, his family said.
And the Muslim Brotherhood has lost four members to violence in recent days. The Islamist group was shunted aside under Mubarak but is now the most powerful political force in Egypt.
For his part, Morsy says he is ready for dialogue. But the gap between the two camps is wide and only getting wider.
Unclear road map
The demonstrators say they have collected 17 million signatures -- roughly four million more than what won Morsy the presidency -- and all of them call for Morsy to go.
The opposition is made up of various groups and loose coalitions, and not all anti-Morsy protesters agree with the road map the Tamarod campaign is advocating.
Some are loyal to the ousted Mubarak government, while others want the army to intervene.
The army variable
Last week, Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said the army would, if necessary, "prevent Egypt from slipping into a dark tunnel of civil unrest and killing, sectarianism and the collapse of state institutions."
His remarks raised the specter of a return to the powerful role the military played in domestic politics under Mubarak.
"Egypt," the government-run newspaper Al-Akhbar said, "is on the brink of a volcano."
Monday, July 1, 2013
Protesters to Egypt's Morsy: You have one day to step down
Egyptians who helped overthrow a 29-year dictatorship in a widely-hailed revolution have now given the country's first democratically elected president one day to step down from office.
In a statement posted Monday on its official facebook page, Tamarod (the "rebel" campaign") demanded that if President Mohamed Morsy doesn't leave office by Tuesday, the group will begin a civil disobedience movement, call for nationwide protests and march on the presidential palace where Morsy's administration is running affairs.
If the last few days have been any indication, Tamarod's deadline will most likely be ignored.
Both sides -- the anti-government demonstrators and Morsy's supporters-- have dug in their heels.
And the results have been deadly.
On Monday, protesters stormed the main headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the party that Morsy led before his election. Armed with Molotov cocktails, the mob set the office on fire, shouting, "The people has toppled the regime."
A day earlier, five people were killed and 613 wounded in confrontations between the two sides, Egypt's official news agency reported.
On the one hand
Those calling for Morsy's ouster say he has hijacked the gains made in the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak and has pushed aside moderate voices.They say Morsy's policies are to blame for a breakdown in law and order, for an economy that's gone south, and for a gas shortage that has Egyptians waiting at the pumps for hours.
On the other
Those supporting the president say he is the people's choice and refer to the 13 million votes he earned in elections held exactly a year ago Sunday. They say he inherited a broken system and should be given time to fix it.
"We're not leaving and the president is staying," one supporter told CNN. "We believe in democracy. If people don't like him, they can vote him out in three years."
Deadly results
Periodically, the two sides have clashed and the results have been deadly -- even before the Sunday clashes.
On Friday, Andrew Pochter, a 21-year-old American in Alexandria to teach children English, was stabbed to death while watching the demonstrations, his family said.
And the Muslim Brotherhood has lost four members to violence in recent days. The Islamist group was shunted aside under Mubarak but is now the most powerful political force in Egypt.
For his part, Morsy says he is ready for dialogue. But the gap between the two camps is wide and only getting wider.
Unclear road map
The demonstrators say they have collected 17 million signatures -- roughly four million more than what won Morsy the presidency -- and all of them call for Morsy to go.
The opposition is made up of various groups and loose coalitions, and not all anti-Morsy protesters agree with the road map the Tamarod campaign is advocating.
Some are loyal to the ousted Mubarak government, while others want the army to intervene.
The army variable
Last week, Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said the army would, if necessary, "prevent Egypt from slipping into a dark tunnel of civil unrest and killing, sectarianism and the collapse of state institutions."
His remarks raised the specter of a return to the powerful role the military played in domestic politics under Mubarak.
"Egypt," the government-run newspaper Al-Akhbar said, "is on the brink of a volcano."
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