Violence in Egypt after President Mursi seizes more power
Egypt’s road to democracy has hit a new violent stumbling block with recently elected President Mohamed Mursi’s decree putting his word “above legal challenge,” Reuters reports. The images coming out of Egypt from places like Cairo’s Tahrir Square are hauntingly similar to those from last year’s violent overthrowing of the Hosani Mubarak regime.
More Egyptian presidential coverage from The Darkroom:
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- Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi speaks to supporters in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Egyptian Presidency/Handout/Reuters)
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- Supporters of Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi sit on electric poles as they watch him speak in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
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- Protesters pray as they gather at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi speaks to supporters in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Egyptian Presidency/Handout/Reuters)
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- Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi waves to supporters in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Egyptian Presidency/Handout/Reuters)
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- Protesters gather at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters chant slogans against Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi during a demonstration at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Constitution Party founders’ representative Mohamed ElBaradei and Hamdeen Sabahi, former presidential candidate and founder of Al-Karama Party, join protesters at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters walk towards Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi’s decree that put his decisions above legal challenge until a new parliament was elected caused fury amongst his opponents on Friday who accused him of being the new Hosni Mubarak and hijacking the revolution. Police fired tear gas in a street leading to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising, where thousands demanded Mursi quit and accused him of launching a ‘coup.’ (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters chant slogans against Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi during a demonstration at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters carry an injured fellow protester during clashes with the police at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters run for cover as they suffer from tear gas inhalation from canisters fired by Egyptian riot police during clashes following a demonstration against Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir square on November 23, 2012. (Ahmed Mahmoud/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Protesters demonstrating against Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi run from tear gas fired by Egyptian riot police during clashes in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir square on November 23, 2012. (Ahmed Mahmoud/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Protesters gather at Tahrir square in Cairo. Police fired tear gas in a street leading to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising, where thousands demanded Mursi quit and accused him of launching a ‘coup.’ There were violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters chant slogans against Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi during a demonstration at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters throw stones at police during clashes at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- A protester carries an injured fellow protester during clashes with the police at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd/Reuters)
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- Protesters chant slogans against Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi during a demonstration at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- A Kashmiri Shitte muslim runs after setting his hand on fire during a clash with Indian police in Srinagar on November 23, 2012, as devotees defy restrictions for a Muharram procession. Authorities imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, to thwart planned Muharram processions as police detained more than a dozen protesters and fired teargas to disperse participants. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Protesters carry an effigy, which symbolises demonstrators killed in clashes with police forces last year, during a demonstration at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. There were violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez. /Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi (C) speaks to supporters in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
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- Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi (C) waves after speaking to supporters in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
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- A protester destroys the logo of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party after ransacking the party’s office in Alexandria November 23, 2012. (Stringer/Reuters)
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- People watch as protesters burn items ransacked from an office of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in Alexandria November 23, 2012. (Stringer/Reuters)
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- Protesters and riot police clash at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi chant pro-Mursi slogans and carried an image of Mursi, during a protest praising a new decree he issued on Thursday, in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23 , 2012. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
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- Protesters run from tear gas released by riot police during clashes at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- A supporter of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi holds a copy of the Koran as he chants pro-Mursi slogans, during a protest praising a new decree the president issued on Thursday, in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
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- Flames burn around a police vehicle after protesters threw a molotov cocktail at it during clashes at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- Protesters run from tear gas released by riot police during clashes at Tahrir square in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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- A protester cheers as items ransacked from an office of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party burn in Alexandria November 23, 2012. (Stringer/Reuters)
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- Protesters attack the logo of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party after ransacking the party’s office in Alexandria November 23, 2012. (Stringer/Reuters)
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- Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi stand on trees as they chant pro-Mursi slogans and praise a new decree he issued on Thursday, during a protest in front of the presidential palace in Cairo November 23, 2012. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)
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- Egyptian supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi clash in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria on November 23, 2012. Opponents set fire to Muslim Brotherhood offices in three Egyptian cities, state television reported, as rival rallies gathered nationwide a day after Morsi assumed sweeping powers. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Egyptian supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi clash in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria on November 23, 2012. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Protests after “pharaoh” Mursi assumes powers in Egypt
Edmund Blair and Marwa Awad | Reuters
11:49 a.m. EST, November 23, 2012
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi’s decision to assume sweeping powers caused fury amongst his opponents and prompted violent clashes in central Cairo and other cities on Friday.
Police fired tear gas near Cairo’s Tahrir Square, heart of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, where thousands demanded Mursi quit and accused him of launching a “coup”. There were violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez.
Opponents accused Mursi, who has issued a decree that puts his decisions above legal challenge until a new parliament is elected, of being the new Mubarak and hijacking the revolution.
“The people want to bring down the regime,” shouted protesters in Tahrir, echoing a chant used in the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down. “Get out, Mursi,” they chanted, along with “Mubarak tell Mursi, jail comes after the throne.”
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