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7 People Die and Hundreds Are Injured in Cairo Clashes
Egypt’s New Government Doesn’t Include Muslim Brotherhood
(about 7 hours later)
CAIRO — At least seven people were killed and more than 200 were injured in overnight clashes between Islamists and Egyptian riot police, health officials said on Tuesday. After days without major violence, the clashes highlighted the growing political disaffection among supporters of Egypt’s former president, Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the military almost two weeks ago.
CAIRO — Egyptian officials announced a new government on Tuesday that excluded members of the country’s influential Islamist parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and appeared to give an expanded role to the country’s powerful military chief.
The clashes shrouded well-known Cairo landmarks with tear gas and smoke from burning tires, including the downtown Ramses Station and a square near Cairo University. The battles appeared to signal an escalation by the Islamists, who had largely confined their protest to a central encampment since June 8, when soldiers and police officers opened fire on a pro-Morsi gathering, killing more than 50 people.
The new cabinet, led by one of Egypt’s most prominent economists, replaces the government of President Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed by the military nearly two weeks ago after mass protests against his rule. The formation of the government is part of a military-led transition plan that is supposed to lead to parliamentary elections within six months.
Analysts praised the diversity of the new cabinet, which included three women, and said it was well qualified to tackle Egypt’s escalating crises, including an economy in free-fall. At the same, they said, any government that owed its existence to the army, rather than voters, and excluded Islamists, Egypt’s most successful electoral force, faced immediate questions about its legitimacy.
A spokesman for Egypt’s interim president denied that anyone had been “excluded” and said that positions had been offered to members of the Brotherhood as well as the ultraconservative Nour party.
But Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, which is demanding the reinstatement of Mr. Morsi as president after what it said was a military coup, said the party was never offered any posts.
“The whole thing is illegitimate,” he said.
The army chief, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, who already serves as defense minister, added the title of first deputy to the interim prime minister, although his specific powers remained vague. General Sisi has appeared to serve as the de facto head of government since he ousted Mr. Morsi and appointed an interim president, Adli Mansour.
Several of Mr. Morsi’s cabinet ministers retained their posts, including the interior minister, who presides over a police force widely criticized for its brutality and lack of reform since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The new government was immediately faced with the tense and sometimes violent standoff between the authorities and Mr. Morsi’s supporters, who have been holding sit-ins and demonstrations since the president’s ouster. After days without major violence, at least seven people were killed and more than 200 were injured in overnight clashes between Islamists and Egyptian riot police, health officials said Tuesday.
The clashes shrouded well-known Cairo landmarks with tear gas and smoke from burning tires, including the downtown Ramses Railway Station and a square near Cairo University. The battles appeared to signal an escalation by the Islamists, who had largely confined their protest to a central encampment since June 8, when soldiers and police officers opened fire on a pro-Morsi gathering, killing more than 50 people.
On Monday evening, thousands of Islamists left the encampment, blocking a bridge that is a central artery for the city’s traffic. They pelted arriving police officers with rocks and the officers, backed by civilians wearing hard hats, responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Clashes were also reported in other cities around the country.
On Monday evening, thousands of Islamists left the encampment, blocking a bridge that is a central artery for the city’s traffic. They pelted arriving police officers with rocks and the officers, backed by civilians wearing hard hats, responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Clashes were also reported in other cities around the country.
The police arrested more than 400 people in Monday night’s violence, state media reported. It was a stark contrast to their failure to arrest almost anyone during dozens of nights of street fighting over the two and a half years since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, and it underscored the re-engagement of the security forces in a new battle against the Islamists, their old foe.
The police arrested more than 400 people in Monday night’s violence, state media reported. It was a stark contrast to their failure to arrest almost anyone during dozens of nights of street fighting over the two and a half years since the ouster of Mr. Mubarak, and it underscored the re-engagement of the security forces in a new battle against the Islamists, their old foe.
The violence came just hours after the United States delivered the Obama administration’s clearest statement yet on the military’s ouster of Mr. Morsi. A senior American diplomat warned on Monday that the generals would jeopardize Egypt’s “second chance” at a democratic transition if their new interim government continued to crack down on Mr. Morsi’s Islamist supporters.
Mayy
El Sheikh contributed reporting.
“If representatives of some of the largest parties in Egypt are detained or excluded, how are dialogue and participation possible?” the diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns, told journalists after meeting with generals and the interim officials they have appointed.
“It is hard to picture how Egypt will be able to emerge from this crisis unless its people come together to find a nonviolent and inclusive path forward,” Mr. Burns said.
Mr. Burns, the first senior United States official to visit Cairo since the takeover, spoke against a backdrop of violence that reflected a near total breakdown in Egypt’s political life. Since the generals detained Mr. Morsi, their soldiers and security forces have closed three Islamist satellite networks and arrested scores of Islamist leaders.
And the Islamists, whose candidates won three-quarters of the seats in the last parliamentary elections, have almost all denounced the military takeover as an illegitimate coup that overthrew a democratic government. They have refused to negotiate with the military-appointed officials or to participate in their plans for a new political process.
Mr. Burns urged both sides to take steps to reconcile. “The government itself has said it wants inclusion of all political streams,” he said. “We have called on the military to avoid any politically motivated arrests. And we have also called upon those who differ with the government to adhere to their absolute obligation to participate peacefully.”
He did not repeat American calls for the generals to release Mr. Morsi. Mr. Burns never mentioned the ousted president, nor the Islamist movement behind him, the Muslim Brotherhood. When an Egyptian journalist asked how the new government responded to American calls for Mr. Morsi’s release, Mr. Burns said only, “We have made our views clear on that issue.”
Seemingly all sides rebuffed Mr. Burns. The young organizers of the petition drive that preceded Mr. Morsi’s ouster, the ultraconservative Islamist party Al Nour and officials of the Muslim Brotherhood all said they would not meet with Mr. Burns. And state news media reported anonymous military officials saying that Mr. Burns was more determined than his Egyptian counterparts to ensure the continued flow of American military aid.
Mr. Morsi’s supporters accuse Washington of giving its blessing to the military’s takeover, while their opponents say the Obama administration wrongly supported Mr. Morsi’s Islamist government. Banners in Tahrir Square — the frequent focal point of protest — depict the American ambassador to Egypt, Anne W. Patterson, with an X across her face.
Mr. Burns said he had “no illusions” about the suspicions of many Egyptians toward the United States. He emphasized repeatedly that the United States did not back any individuals or parties in Egypt, only the principles of pluralistic democracy.
He said Washington hoped that Egypt’s new transition would be “a chance to learn some of the lessons and correct some of the mistakes of the past two years,” and that the military-led government’s transitional “road map” would “hasten Egypt’s return to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible.”
At present, that plan calls for a panel of 10 chosen jurists to draft a sweeping constitutional overhaul in less than a month, and for an assembly of 50 appointees from various constituencies to review the package two months after that. The package would then go almost immediately to a national referendum. Legal scholars say the process leaves little room for public debate or input.
Mr. Burns, though, struck an optimistic note: “My sense is that people realize that what is most important is that the process be transparent and inclusive.”
