Police ordered to disperse Cairo protest camps

The government in Egypt has authorised police to take “all necessary measures” to disperse two large Islamist protest camps in Cairo, raising the possibility of fresh bloodshed that could further undermine the chance of national reconciliation.

Thousands of supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi are adamant they will not leave the camps until he has been restored to power. A statement from the cabinet installed by the military after it ousted Mr Morsi said the continuation of the “dangerous situation” at the two round-the–clock vigils threatened national security.

It said “the terrorist acts and road blocking” arising from the protests, one in front of a mosque in an eastern suburb, the other near Cairo university, were no longer acceptable. The cabinet said it based the authorisation to end the sit-ins on what it described as the “massive popular mandate from the people to the state”—a reference to huge popular rallies last Friday that were called by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, defence minister, to authorise the army and police to “fight terrorism”. A cabinet source later said peaceful means would be used.

The prospect of a move by the security forces against the camps, which house tens of thousands of followers of the president’s Muslim Brotherhood, has alarmed rights activists. They fear it could lead to killings on a wide scale. Many of the protesters are poor Egyptians, including women and children, who have been bused in from the countryside.

Some 80 Islamists were killed in clashes with police at the weekend when the security services tries to prevent supporters of the former president from cutting off a main street and a bridge. That came two weeks after 50 of the president’s supporters were killed by army and police gunfire outside a Republican Guard facility where protesters thought he was being held.

“I am terrified of the idea of an operation by the interior ministry to disperse the sit-in in the same way that we have seen protests dispersed over the past two years,” said Heba al-Morayef, Egypt director of Human Rights Watch. “The pattern often involves unlawful killings or excessive force. We saw unprecedented levels of violence last week.”

A cabinet source, however, said that the dispersal of the sit-in should be “definitely not by force” and that it will be gradual, through peaceful means and with enough time given for the protesters “to see reason”.

“It will be through a succession of methods such as enjoining women and children to leave,” said the cabinet source. “This is our primary concern. Every possible warning will be given to allow people to leave peacefully. There will also be assurances that those who leave the protest will not be prosecuted.” The source, however, said that the discussion at the cabinet which lasted for five hours “did not entertain the scenario” of what happens if Mr Morsi’s supporters refuse to end their protest.

Brotherhood spokesmen have said repeatedly that their protests will continue until Mr Morsi, the country’s first elected president, has been freed and returned to power. The group considers that it is fighting an existential battle which involves not only the loss of political power gained through the ballot box, but also the return of the harassment and repression it suffered for 80 years until the 2011 revolution.

On Wednesday, prosecutors also referred three top Brotherhood leaders to trial, including its top leader Mohammed Badie. The other two, who are already in detention, are Khairat el-Shater, a deputy leader, and Rashad Bayoumi, a senior official of the group. They are accused of inciting the killing of at least eight protesters outside the Cairo headquarters of the Brotherhood on the night of June 30 and early the next day.