EGYPT: At least 200,000 protesters join Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations in Cairo in show of strength for President Mursi

Record ID: 702467

  • Title: EGYPT: At least 200,000 protesters join Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations in Cairo in show of strength for President Mursi
  • Date: 1st December 2012
  • Summary: YOUNG GIRL HOLDING POSTER OF MURSI
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7U7NF2Y8U57VPNAFTUUVPIYS1
  • Story Text: At least 200,000 Islamists demonstrated in Cairo on Saturday (December 1) in support of President Mohamed Mursi, who is rushing through a constitution to try to defuse opposition fury over his newly expanded powers.
    The protesters marched through the streets of Cairo to the campus of Cairo University, which was a last minute substitute for Tahrir Square, now the site of an open ended opposition sit-in.
    The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Mursi was a senior leader, has said it changed its plan to protest in Tahrir to avoid conflict with opposition activists who accuse Mursi of acting like a dictator.
    One of the pro-Mursi demonstrators, Hasan, said the size of the rally showed the Mursi has widespread backing.
    "I think that the numbers you see today - and there are other similar gatherings around the country - show that true legitimacy is with President Mursi. I want to say something very good to President Mursi - You should know that you are not alone, and that you have a great people supporting you. A people who are present. A people who have a great understanding of the politics of Egypt," pro-Mursi protester Hasan said.
    The president was expected later on Saturday to set a date for a referendum on the constitution hastily approved by an Islamist-dominated drafting assembly on Friday after a 19-hour session.
    Mursi supporter Amir Kamel said a referendum would allow all Egyptians to have their say.
    "Today's protest is being organised today to support the President's decisions because we believe that when there is a constitution that the people can vote on this will stabilise the country. And this will eliminate the divisions between the supporters and opposition. So, God willing, the people will have their say on the constitution and if the people say no then we will have a new constituent assembly and a new constitution, God willing," he said.
    Mursi plunged Egypt into a new crisis last week when he gave himself extensive powers and put his decisions beyond judicial challenge, saying this was a temporary measure to speed Egypt's democratic transition until the new constitution is in place.
    His assertion of authority in a decree issued on Nov. 22, a day after he won world praise for brokering a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, dismayed his opponents and widened divisions among Egypt's 83 million people.
    Much of Egypt's judiciary has gone on strike in protest at Mursi's edict, which placed the controversial constitution writing body.
    Mursi has alienated many of the judges who must supervise the a planned referendum on the constitution. His decree nullified the ability of the courts, many of them staffed by Mubarak-era appointees, to strike down his measures, although says he respects judicial independence.
    But lawyers who support Mursi also held a march today, with many of them saying that the perception that all lawyers and judges opposed the president was incorrect.
    "We support President Mursi's constitutional declaration, to show public opinion that the lawyers, through their tears, support the constitutional declaration that Mursi has instituted, and that we differ with the former head of the Lawyers Union," said Rami Salem.
    Egypt cannot hold a new parliamentary election until a new constitution is passed. The country has been without an elected legislature since the Supreme Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated lower house in June.
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