Celebrate President Mursi's 100 days - violent protest and major political set back

[hellheaven1987]

I am disappointed there are no camel riders in this time.

Fresh clashes have broken out in the Egyptian capital Cairo in the worst violence since President Mohammed Mursi took office at the end of June.

Scores of people were reported injured as supporters and opponents of Mr Mursi fought in Tahrir Square.

Tensions are high after Egyptian judges criticised Mr Mursi's attempt to remove the country's top prosecutor.

It follows the acquittal of 24 people accused of attacks on protesters during last year's uprising.

Witnesses said a rally critical of the president was taking place in Tahrir Square on Friday when a crowd of his supporters stormed their stage.

Fighting broke out and protesters pelted each other with stones, bottles and petrol bombs.

The Health Ministry put the number of injured at 110, state TV said.

"My conclusion is that Mursi is just the president of the [Muslim] Brotherhood, that's all," said one protester, Sayed al-Hawari.

Another, Rania Mohsen, said: "We are here against turning the state into a Brotherhood state. We do not want to replace the old regime with one like the old one."

However, Mursi supporter Moez Naggar accused the other camp of behaving like "thugs".

"We have to give Mursi a chance," he said.

As darkness fell at least two buses, believed to belong to the Muslim Brotherhood which backs Mr Mursi, were seen on fire near the square.

An urgent screen caption on Egypt's state-run Channel 1 TV read: "Muslim Brotherhood group denounces regrettable incidents in Tahrir Square, calls on its members to withdraw from the square."

In unrest elsewhere, protesters in Egypt's northern industrial town of Mahalla stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and tore down pictures of President Mursi, security officials told BBC Arabic.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says that, 100 days into his term, this is the first time President Mursi has experienced big demonstrations against him.

However, it is not clear how much it represents wider discontent with the Muslim Brotherhood and the government, he says.

Egyptians are frustrated that so far the new president appears to have done little to change the country or boost the economy, our correspondent adds.

Opponents are also angry at Egypt's proposed new constitution, which they see as too dominated by Islam.

Source

Apartly President Mursi was scared by the protestors so he reversed his early decision.

President Mohammed Mursi of Egypt has agreed to allow the Mubarak-era chief prosecutor to keep his job after an embarrassing public row.

Spokesmen for Mr Mursi and the prosecutor, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, confirmed an agreement had been reached at talks in the capital, Cairo.

Mr Mahmoud earlier returned to work, escorted by judges and lawyers.

He has been criticised for acquitting officials accused of attacking protesters under Hosni Mubarak.

The acquittals sparked violent protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday when supporters and opponents of President Mursi clashed.

More than 110 people were injured in the worst violence seen since he took office at the end of June.

Saturday's outcome is a big defeat for Mr Mursi, who until now has been steadily consolidating power, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo.

Under the old government, there was often criticism that judges and prosecutors were susceptible to government pressure. Our correspondent says they are now fighting hard to assert their independence from the new government.

Source

The development is interesting, not just showing how much power current Egyptian President has, but in the same time also formerly light up the opened hostility between Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian judicial organization. This might have to do with the situation that many Egyptian judges are pro-military, results Muslim Brotherhood's insecurity that Egyptian military may ally with Egyptian judicial organization to restrict or even remove the control of Muslim Brotherhood. Still, it seems most funs would not starting until the Egyptian constitution is out, which is close to be finished.

Overall, Egypt probably would be a fun place to watch for next few years.

[Slaytaninc]

None of this surprises me. At all.

[Blaze86420]

President fires prosecuter responsible for acquitting persons responsible for hurting revolutionaries => revolutionaries start rioting against the President.

logic, it's pretty clear that when Egyptian secularists decide that it hates the Muslim Brotherhood, anything they do is wrong. And I know, separation of powers and all that, but come on, you're going to riot because the guy responsible for freeing people who hurt protesters got fired? What a joke, Mr. Mahmoud's got to be a happy man knowing that former revolutionaries are now defending remnants of the old guard.

Don't exactly know how some Egyptians expect things to change overnight while tying the President's hands behind his back. Give the Muslim Brotherhood a chance FFS.

EDIT: Any news on the constitution being drafted?

[hellheaven1987]

EDIT: Any news on the constitution being drafted?

According to BBC there is debate whether to dissolve the constitutional assembly or not, since the constitution draft is near complete.

[Seether]

President fires prosecuter responsible for acquitting persons responsible for accused of hurting revolutionaries => revolutionaries start rioting against the President.

See how that changes the dynamic?

[Blaze86420]

See how that changes the dynamic?

"The defendants included the Mubarak-era parliament speaker, senior former ruling party members as well as government ministers and businessmen."
Now I don't know for sure if any of these guys are actually guilty or not (obviously), but as far as the Egyptian public is concerned, they are because they are looking for someone to take the blame for the deaths that the regime was responsible for. That's why the guy was fired in the first place; Morsi responded to public pressure. What I don't get is why people are rioting, I'm certain it has nothing to do with the issue here, and more to do with the Muslim Brotherhood being in power.

[hellheaven1987]

more to do with the Muslim Brotherhood being in power.

Consider the current Egyptian judicial system is in chaos, it is not a surprise when someone view an act is legal others may view it otherwise.

[Yoda Twin]

President fires prosecuter responsible for acquitting persons responsible for hurting revolutionaries => revolutionaries start rioting against the President.

logic, it's pretty clear that when Egyptian secularists decide that it hates the Muslim Brotherhood, anything they do is wrong. And I know, separation of powers and all that, but come on, you're going to riot because the guy responsible for freeing people who hurt protesters got fired? What a joke, Mr. Mahmoud's got to be a happy man knowing that former revolutionaries are now defending remnants of the old guard.

Don't exactly know how some Egyptians expect things to change overnight while tying the President's hands behind his back. Give the Muslim Brotherhood a chance FFS.

EDIT: Any news on the constitution being drafted?

Separation of powers? In what world is the prosecution not a member of the Executive?

[Blaze86420]

Separation of powers? In what world is the prosecution not a member of the Executive?

My understanding is that the Prosecutor general is part of Judiciary, hence the support he received from judges and lawyers and the call for the executive branch to stop interfering with the judiciary.

That's what I inferred from the article, unless I misunderstood something.

[Blaze86420]

Ok, I was wrong, the President interfering with the Judicial branch was a mistake. It's a good thing he backed off.

[hellheaven1987]

Ok, I was wrong, the President interfering with the Judicial branch was a mistake. It's a good thing he backed off.

But then the fact that Egyptian judicial branch is allying with Egyptian military is unacceptable too; ultimately, both sides need to know their place and try to do their own job instead playing political game with other government branches.

[frozenprince]

I think a more workable dynamic between the branches will come in time. It's an early democracy, it takes time to know what the interactions can and should be, having the constitution ironed out should help immensely.

[motiv-8]

I think a more workable dynamic between the branches will come in time. It's an early democracy, it takes time to know what the interactions can and should be, having the constitution ironed out should help immensely.

Basically, but it really depends on what form the constitution takes in regards to separations of powers and the roles of different centers of gravity like the courts and the military and the legislature, and then of course civil rights. These are all linchpins of future stability and success.

s pretty clear that when Egyptian secularists decide that it hates the Muslim Brotherhood, anything they do is wrong.

Yeah, it's pretty interesting watching the secularist-Islamist divide in these countries. In the West it's automatically assumed that what secularists are saying is the truth, because hey they're secularists and Islamism is scary. But really secularists will go and say and do some really outrageous knowing that they have a captive audience abroad, when really they should be focusing on getting domestically organized and putting forth workable political platform and plans for the future. This kind of like fighting in Tahrir, TAHRIR of all places, isn't gonna solve anything.

[Blaze86420]

Yeah, it's pretty interesting watching the secularist-Islamist divide in these countries. In the West it's automatically assumed that what secularists are saying is the truth, because hey they're secularists and Islamism is scary. But really secularists will go and say and do some really outrageous knowing that they have a captive audience abroad, when really they should be focusing on getting domestically organized and putting forth workable political platform and plans for the future. This kind of like fighting in Tahrir, TAHRIR of all places, isn't gonna solve anything.

This reminds me of this one protest that took place right after the elections, where some Egyptians were outraged over Morsi's victory and were begging the military to "come to the rescue". Yeah, this country has a lot of issues to work out, it boggles my mind that Shafik got 48 percent of the vote. Which means almost half of Egypt believes the MB to be bigger threat than a guy who worked for Mubarak.

The Muslim Brotherhood ain't that bad. I don't get all the fuss; they're much more compromising and moderate than I ever expected them to be.

[motiv-8]

A lot of the problem is that secularists don't see or don't try to see the nuances and divides among Islamic parties and groups. Like in Tunisia they see all the Salafists as the same -- scary and dangerous -- even though a huge proportion of Salafists in Tunisia aren't even political, and only a small portion of them are the ones going around and vandalizing liquor stores and harassing women, and many even lump them in with Ennahda. Likewise in Egypt the secularists COULD be working with the Freedom & Justice party to assure a working government coalition against the Salafists, but instead they radically oppose who should be their partners in government by lumping them all together. And then get upset when FJP ends up partnering with the Salafists just to get a working government going.

[hellheaven1987]

Basically the issue is same like US President cannot randomly fire the judge of Supreme Court.