EGYPT-ANNIVERSARY/MORNING Tahrir Square quiet on second anniversary of ousting of Egypt's Mursi

Record ID: 149070

  • Title: EGYPT-ANNIVERSARY/MORNING Tahrir Square quiet on second anniversary of ousting of Egypt's Mursi
  • Date: 30th June 2015
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (JUNE 30, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC AROUND TAHRIR SQUARE NEWSPAPER STAND NEWSPAPERS WITH HEADLINES ABOUT PUBLIC PROSECUTOR ASSASSINATION NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING (Arabic): "The assassination of the public prosecutor" (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PASSER-BY, MAGDA MASSOUD, SAYING: "He is our wall, one that we lean on. It's a tough situation when he is assassi
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3BS01E6BY7MNMNUGBEWJ0KYY0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Egypt stepped up security on Tuesday (June 30) for the second anniversary of the June 30 events that led to the ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.
    A holiday has been declared for the anniversary but official celebrations were cancelled following the assassination of Egypt's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat, the most senior state official to die at the hands of militants since the toppling of an Islamist president two years ago.
    One passer-by said the area needed an increased security presence because of the number of high profile officials living in the area.
    "He is our wall, one that we lean on. It's a tough situation when he is assassinated outside his home while going to work. Where are the security measures for this area? This is a residential area. I have a colleague who lives there and I understand that Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar lives there. He is also a person who could be targeted. There needs to be extra special security measures in this area specifically," said Magda Massoud.
    Barakat was killed by a car bomb attack on his convoy on Monday (June 29). There was no confirmed claim of responsibility.
    Judges and other senior officials have increasingly been targeted by radical Islamists opposed to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and angered by hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
    A former army officer praised the removal for Mursi from office in mid-2013 after mass protests against his rule.
    "Of course 30 June is a decisive transition or phase for the entire Arab nation and not only the Egyptian people. God bless President Sisi and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces who we can say have protected all the Arab world," said Hany Abdel Aziz.
    Last month, the Islamic State militant group's Egyptian affiliate urged followers to attack judges, opening a new front in an Islamist insurgency in Egypt.
    Mursi, a Brotherhood leader who was freely elected as Egypt's president in 2012, was sentenced this month to death over a mass jailbreak in 2011.
    Monday's attack stirred fears of yet more turmoil in Egypt, which has been struggling since the 2011 popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak to regain full-fledged stability and revive the economy of the Arab world's most populous country.
    The bombing also showed the risk of militant Islam threatening the Egyptian state leadership, as it did in the 1980s and 1990s.
    The Brotherhood denies any link to violence and says it is committed to peaceful activism. Its spokesman said on the group's Facebook page it rejected killing, but that responsibility for the attack on the public prosecutor lay with the authorities.
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