After violent demonstrations, the egyptian army ousted islamist president mohammed mursi and announced new elections. For the time being, the president of the constitutional court, adli mansur, will steer the country’s fortunes, defense minister abdel fattah al-sisi said in a televised address wednesday. In addition, the army annulled the constitution drawn up by the islamists. Thus, after only one year, the military deposed the elected government of egypt. Earlier, the mursi camp had accused the militarists of attempting a coup. "The army does not want to remain in power," al-sisi asserted.
In cairo, people celebrated the announcement. Fireworks rockets rose into the sky, honking car corsos crisscrossed the city. In tahrir square, where tens of thousands of mursi’s opponents had gathered, people celebrated the president’s end.
The military had given mursi until wednesday afternoon to find a way out of the crisis, for example through early presidential elections. After the expiration of this ultimatum, the army was disengaged with tanks. According to eyewitnesses, military vehicles drove through the streets in the capital cairo and other cities. According to officially unconfirmed information from airport circles, egyptian authorities have also imposed an exit ban on mursi.
Earlier, the military leadership had met with opposition leaders and senior church leaders in a crisis meeting. Nobel peace prize laureate mohammed elbaradei, representatives of the "tamarud" protest movement, the grand sheikh of al-azhar university, ahmed al-tajjib, and the coptic orthodox pope tawadros II were among those present. The muslim brotherhood party – from which mursi hails – did not participate.
Massive protests for and against mursi have shaken the country for several days now. Millions of people had demanded his resignation at rallies in the past few days. The islamists, on the other hand, do not want to accept being deprived of their power. Mursi himself had ruled out a resignation until the very end. He repeated the offer to form a coalition government.
At least 22 people were killed in riots and skirmishes. Police arrested bodyguard of muslim brotherhood leader mohammed badia for carrying weapons without a license.
According to state television, the central bank of agypt ordered the closure of all financial institutions in the country. But they are expected to reopen for several hours on thursday.
The protest movement criticizes mursi for his authoritarian style of leadership, a progressive islamization in the country and also for a dramatically worsened economic situation. Mursi’s supporters see the crisis as an ideological power struggle – for or against islam. Mursi has been in office for one year since sunday. The muslim brotherhood emerged as the strongest force in both the parliamentary and presidential elections.
Egypt’s ousted president mohammed mursi defends himself against his ouster by the military. On one of the official twittersites of the head of state on wednesday evening, it hailed this as a "coup". This action was rejected by all free people who had fought for a civil, democratic egypt. At the same time, he called on the agyptians to remain peaceful and avoid bloodshed.
Immediately after the military announced the ousting of agyptian president mohammed mursi, the islamists’ television stations were apparently also shut down. At the station "misr25" the muslim brotherhood the broadcast was abruptly interrupted, eyewitnesses reported on wednesday. The islamist channel "al-hafes" also fought back and the salafist channel "al-nas are concerned, the state newspaper "al-ahram" reported in your online edition.
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