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Mohamed Morsi declares emergency in three Egyptian provinces Mohamed Morsi declares emergency in three Egyptian cities
(about 1 hour later)
Egypt's president has declared a 30-day state of emergency and curfews in the three Suez Canal provinces hit hardest by a wave of political violence that has left more than 50 dead in three days. President Mohamed Morsi has announced a state of emergency in three cities near Egypt's Suez Canal, following four days of civil unrest that have left at least 40 dead and over 500 injured.
An angry Mohamed Morsi vowed in a televised address on Sunday he would not hesitate to take more action to stem the latest eruption of violence across much of the country. Port Said, Suez, and Ismailiya – the cities most affected by the violence – will be subject to a 30-day curfew lasting from 9pm to 6am every night, Morsi said in a surprise televised speech.
The three provinces are Port Said, Ismailiya and Suez. Speaking to the Guardian, a spokesman for the opposition expressed frustration at the announcement, blaming the president's policies and inaction for the violence, and arguing that the state of emergency was too little, too late.
Morsi also invited the nation's political forces to a dialogue starting on Monday to resolve the country's latest crisis. The predominantly secular and liberal opposition has in the past declined Morsi's offers of dialogue, arguing that he must first show a political will to meet some of its demands. Since Thursday, hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in 12 of the country's 21 provinces, to protest against the Islamist president, the Muslim Brotherhood, and police brutality – exactly two years after the start of the Egyptian revolution.
The Mediterranean coastal city of Port Said, 140 miles north-east of Cairo, saw some of the worst violence since Hosni Mubarak's ousting nearly two years ago. Clashes flared anew on Sunday, killing seven more people and pushing the two day death toll for riots in the city to 44. On Saturday, the government lost control of Port Said, a coastal city on the Mediterranean, when hardcore football fans rioted in protest at being scapegoated, as they saw it, by security forces for the massacre of over 70 Cairene supporters at a football match in February 2012.
Tens of thousands of mourners poured into the streets for a mass funeral for most of the 37 people who died on Saturday, the worst day of clashes. Mourners chanted against Morsi. Thirty-seven people died as rioters tried to invade a prison and several police buildings. The situation was inflamed once more on Sunday as police disrupted a funeral march for those killed the day before – sparking yet more upheaval.
"We are now dead against Morsi," said Port Said activist Amira Alfy. "We will not rest now until he goes and we will not take part in the next parliamentary elections. Port Said has risen and will not allow even a semblance of normalcy to come back." "We think the president is totally responsible for the conflict," said Khaled Daoud, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front, a disparate collection of liberal and leftist parties opposed to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.
Violence in the city erupted on Saturday after a court convicted and sentenced 21 defendants to death for their roles in a football riot in a Port Said stadium on 1 February 2012 that left 74 dead. Most of those sentenced to death were local fans from Port Said, deepening a sense of persecution that Port Said's residents have felt since the disaster. "Almost all over Egypt you're seeing dissatisfaction about the policies of the president," Daoud said. "He only cares about the Muslim Brotherhood."
At least 11 more people were killed in protests elsewhere in the country on Friday, when hundreds of thousands staged rallies across much of the country on the second anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak. The violence in Port Said brought the toll for three days to 53 dead. Daoud also argued that the violence – particularly in Port Said, which was sparked by the long-awaited decision to sentence to death 21 local football fans – was entirely predictable, and therefore very preventable.
The violence flared only a month after a prolonged crisis punctuated by violence over the new constitution. Ten died in that round of unrest and hundreds were injured. Yet as violence broke out last week, Morsi was slow to react publicly, until today. "When the bloodshed happened on [Friday], all the president did was tweet," said Daoud.
Others felt that Morsi had been placed in a difficult position.
According to Elijah Zarwan, a Cairo-based analyst at the European Council for Foreign Relations, the decision to declare a state of emergency certainly risks "inflaming the situation further – blood calls for blood."
Yet the other routes available to Morsi also had their problems, Zarwan told the Guardian.
Instead of calling a state of emergency, Morsi might have placated the Port Said football ultras by involving himself in their court case.
But Zarwan said: "Any political approach he might take to calm the situation in Port Said would risk infuriating a constituency he can ill afford to infuriate, be it football ultras in Cairo, the judiciary, or the police."