MID.EastNEWS - CAIRO (AP) ‘Protes untuk Menggulingkan Pemimpin
Mesir di tengah-tengah Ketegangan’ Dengan tentera memantapkan keselamatan,
puluhan ribu turun ke jalan-raya Jumaat ditentukan untuk kembali kepada
kuasa menggulingkan pemimpin Islam Mesir, manakala lawan Mohammed Morsi yang
diadakan perhimpunan saingan, meningkatkan kebimbangan pusingan segar
pertempuran.
Tentera
memberi amaran ia tidak akan bertolak ansur dengan mana-mana keganasan dan
menghantar jet pejuang menjerit ke atas ibu kota dan helikopter berlegar.
Menerbitkan bantahan mereka selama beberapa hari, penyokong Morsi itu berikrar
Jumaat akan menjadi penentu dalam kempen mereka untuk cuba menterbalikkan
rampasan kuasa ketenteraan yang dikeluarkan presiden pertama negara yang
dipilih secara demokrasi selepas setahun di pejabat, berikutan bantahan
besar-besaran terhadap beliau.
Tidak
seperti demonstrasi lain yang dipegang pada waktu petang selepas berbuka
sepanjang hari Ramadan cepat, perhimpunan pro-Morsi berlaku sepanjang hari.
Dianjurkan oleh pihak Muslim Ikhwan presiden digulingkan dan digelar
"Berbuka Rampasan kuasa," mereka termasuk perarakan di jalan-jalan di
Kaherah, di luar pemasangan tentera dan di bandar-bandar lain, termasuk
Alexandria dan beberapa wilayah Delta Nil.
Perhimpunan
saingan datang hanya beberapa hari selepas Kabinet interim baru mengangkat
sumpah yang termasuk wanita, orang Kristian dan ahli-ahli parti liberal
menentang Morsi, tetapi tidak Islam. Ikhwan Muslimin telah enggan untuk
mengambil bahagian dalam perbincangan dengan kepimpinan interim.
Negara
ini telah menjadi amat polarisasi sejak penyingkiran autocrat lama Hosni
Mubarak pada bulan Februari 2011, berikutan perhimpunan besar-besaran.
Bahagian-bahagian hanya lebih mendalam 3 Julai rampasan kuasa tentera yang
disokong oleh berjuta-juta yang menuduh Morsi menyalahgunakan kuasa dan memberi
terlalu banyak mempengaruhi kepada kumpulan Ikhwan Muslimin beliau.
Perhimpunan
Jumaat bertepatan dengan hari ke-10 bulan puasa Ramadan, yang Mesir meraikan
sebagai hari angkatan tentera mereka melintasi Terusan Suez dalam perang tahun
1973 dengan Israel. Serangan kejutan membawa kepada pemulangan Semenanjung
Sinai, yang telah diduduki oleh Israel.
Majlis
tersebut adalah peluang untuk kem-kem saingan untuk memberi tumpuan kepada
tentera, yang telah memainkan peranan penting dalam menghapuskan Morsi. Pada
perhimpunan pro-Morsi, penunjuk perasaan memuji kuasa tentera tetapi menarik
perbezaan dengan kepimpinan, yang mereka dituduh melakukan pengkhianatan untuk
beralih terhadap Morsi.
Mengibarkan
bendera Mesir dan gambar-gambar pemimpin digulingkan, mereka melaungkan slogan
anti ketua tentera Jeneral Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi. "El-Sissi adalah
pengkhianat!" mereka menjerit. "Morsi adalah presiden kita!"
Penganjur dimainkan ucapan lama Morsi itu, merujuk kepada beliau sebagai pemimpin
negara dan panglima tertinggi angkatan tentera.
"Masalah-tahun
pertama mungkin telah diselesaikan dengan dialog, tetapi pembangkang sentiasa
ditolak," kata 28 tahun Osama Youssef, yang mengembara ke Kaherah dari
wilayah timur Sharqiya untuk menunjukkan sokongan beliau untuk Morsi.
"Pembangkang tidak berjaya mendapat kuasa melalui langkah-langkah
perlembagaan, maka ia memilih untuk mengambil kuasa dengan mengadakan satu
rampasan kuasa tentera."
Sayed
el-Banna, ahli Ikhwan 45 tahun yang datang ke Kaherah dari wilayah Delta
al-Sharqia berkata, ia adalah penting untuk mempunyai ramai orang di jalanan.
"Ia adalah untuk menghantar mesej kepada mereka dalam tentera yang tidak
bersetuju dengan el-Sissi untuk berdiri dengan kami dan menyokong kami,"
katanya.
Sementara
itu, beberapa ribu penunjuk perasaan anti-Morsi berkumpul di Dataran Tahrir,
Kaherah dan di luar dua istana presiden untuk meraikan keuntungan mereka.
"Rakyat dan tentera dan polis bersama-sama menentang keganasan,"
mengisytiharkan banner disengat di seluruh peringkat ditubuhkan di istana
presiden.
Helikopter
tentera terbang overhead turun kupon hadiah dan bendera Mesir pada perhimpunan di
Tahrir Square dan koir polis dilakukan lagu nasionalis dalam parti yang
berlangsung lewat malam. Kehadiran di jalan-jalan sisi saingan telah
menimbulkan kebimbangan pertempuran, dan tentera dan polis telah dikerahkan
banyak di kawasan-kawasan di mana kedua-dua orang ramai mungkin berlanggar.
Dalam satu insiden, berhampiran istana presiden, pasukan keselamatan
melemparkan gas pemedih mata pada perarakan menghampiri oleh Morsi penyokong
untuk mengelakkan ia daripada sampai ke kawasan di mana penunjuk perasaan
anti-Morsi telah mengadakan perhimpunan mereka sendiri.
Hanya
insiden kecil keganasan dilaporkan di ibu negara. Penyokong Pro-Morsi dan lawan
menjerit antara satu sama lain selepas solat Jumaat di utama Masjid Al-Azhar
dan polis menahan enam penunjuk perasaan Islam untuk membuang batu. Secara
berasingan, seorang lelaki ditikam dan dimasukkan ke hospital apabila ramai
penyokong presiden digulingkan itu mempersoalkan identiti dan mendapati dia
adalah seorang anggota polis dalam pakaian awam.
Di
Semenanjung Sinai, di mana militan lama aktif di kawasan tersebut telah
meningkatkan serangan mereka terhadap pasukan keselamatan berikutan
penyingkiran Morsi, dua orang awam terbunuh apabila militan bersenjata
melepaskan tembakan roket di pusat pemeriksaan tentera, tetapi melanda kediaman
berdekatan.
Dalam
usaha yang jelas untuk memperluaskan asas sokongan mereka, ahli-ahli Ikhwan
merayu kepada orang menyertai perhimpunan mereka, berkeras rampasan kuasa itu
adalah kira-kira yang akan diterbalikkan. "Kepada mereka yang
teragak-agak, bangun, masa untuk akhir rampasan kuasa hampir," senior
Ikhwan pemimpin Essam el-Erian menulis dalam posting di laman Facebook beliau.
Yasser
Meshren, seorang penyokong Ikhwan yang datang ke Kaherah dari wilayah selatan
Bani Sueif, menuduh tentera yang menipu rakyat dengan memantau pilihan raya
hanya untuk kemudian keluarkan Morsi, membubarkan parlimen interim negara dan
menggantung perlembagaan, yang telah diluluskan dalam referendum.
"Anda
mencuri ibu saya dan suara kakak saya," kata Meshren kepimpinan tentera.
Semasa perarakan mereka, penunjuk perasaan membuat usaha bersepadu untuk
membezakan antara pemimpin-pemimpin tentera dan tentera. Pada satu ketika,
sekumpulan penyokong pro-Morsi menghampiri pusat pemeriksaan tentera menawarkan
mereka bunga.
Polis
dan pasukan tentera dan kenderaan perisai dikerahkan banyak di Kaherah sekitar
pemasangan keselamatan dan tentera, rumah mahkamah, dan pintu masuk di ibu negara.
Jet pejuang terbang ke atas penunjuk perasaan dan jurucakap tentera Kolonel
Ahmed Mohammed Ali mengeluarkan amaran tegas terhadap Facebook, memberitahu
orang awam tidak menimbulkan sebagai anggota tentera atau pemasangan tentera
pendekatan atau tentera, berkata sesiapa yang melakukan kematian begitu
membahayakan.
Tentera
juga menurun risalah amaran terhadap keganasan sebagai orang ramai yang
kira-kira 400 penunjuk perasaan pro-Morsi berarak melalui bandar utama di utara
Sinai ini el-Arish. Risalah menggesa orang ramai untuk melindungi Semenanjung
Sinai daripada "pengganas" dan memberikan dua nombor bagi orang-orang
untuk memanggil melaporkan tingkah laku yang mencurigakan.
Sementara
itu, Ikhwan berkata, 7 pemimpin kumpulan ibu bapa, termasuk bekas speaker
parlimen dan Salafi pendakwah ultraconservative, telah dihantar ke sebuah
penjara yang dikawal ketat, satu langkah yang kumpulan itu adalah tidak sah
kerana orang-orang yang belum dikenakan. Mereka telah dituduh, antara lain,
menghasut keganasan.
Presiden
digulingkan, yang telah digantikan oleh pemimpin interim Adly Mansour, telah
dibenarkan berkomunikasi di kemudahan tentera yang tidak didedahkan sejak
kejatuhannya. Beliau tidak pernah disabitkan dengan sebarang jenayah. Saluran
TV Ikhwan telah diambil dari udara bersama-sama dengan saluran Islam yang lain
dilihat sebagai bersimpati kepada kumpulan. Mesir sekutu Al-Jazeera telah
diserbu oleh pasukan keselamatan, dan pada hari Jumaat, isyarat saluran itu,
bersama-sama dengan saluran perdana bahasa Inggeris dan Arab berita, telah
bersela terganggu. Sebab-sebab gangguan tidak jelas.
Pro-Morsi
penunjuk perasaan Mostafa Fathi, akauntan 33 tahun, berkata beliau melihat
penyingkiran Morsi dan penutupan saluran TV sebagai tanda-tanda negara itu
menyasarkan Islam, seperti yang berlaku semasa pemerintahan berhampiran tiga
dekad-panjang Mubarak.
"Kami
tidak mahu kembali ke negara polis atau keadaan ketidakadilan."
Associated
Press penulis Aya Batrawy menyumbang kepada laporan ini.
Protests for Egypt's Ousted leader Amid Tension
MID.EastNEWS - CAIRO (AP) With the military beefing up
security, tens of thousands took to the streets Friday in a determined push for
the return to power of Egypt's ousted Islamist leader, while Mohammed Morsi's
opponents staged rival rallies, raising fears of a fresh round of clashes.
The
army warned it wouldn't tolerate any violence and sent fighter jets screaming
over the capital and helicopters hovering over the marches. Publicizing their
protests for days, Morsi's supporters vowed Friday would be decisive in their
campaign to try to reverse the military coup that removed the country's first
democratically elected president after a year in office, following massive
protests against him.
Unlike
other demonstrations held in the evening after breaking the daylong Ramadan
fast, the pro-Morsi rallies took place throughout the day. Organized by the
ousted president's Muslim Brotherhood party and dubbed "Breaking the
Coup," they included marches in Cairo's streets, outside military
installations and in other cities, including Alexandria and several Nile Delta
provinces.
The
rival gatherings came just days after a new interim Cabinet was sworn in that
includes women, Christians and members of a liberal coalition opposed to Morsi,
but no Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood has refused to take part in talks with
the interim leadership.
The
country has been deeply polarized since the ouster of longtime autocrat Hosni
Mubarak in February 2011, following massive rallies. The divisions only
deepened over the July 3 military coup supported by millions who accused Morsi
of abusing his power and giving too much influence to his Muslim Brotherhood
group.
Friday's
rallies coincided with the 10th day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan,
which Egyptians celebrate as the day their armed forces crossed the Suez Canal
in the 1973 war with Israel. The surprise assault led to the return of the
Sinai Peninsula, which had been occupied by Israel.
The
occasion was a chance for the rival camps to focus on the military, which was
instrumental in removing Morsi. At pro-Morsi gatherings, protesters extolled
the virtue of the armed forces but drew a distinction with its leadership,
which they accused of treason for turning against Morsi.
Waving
Egyptian flags and pictures of the ousted leader, they chanted slogans against
army chief Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi. "El-Sissi is a traitor!" they
shouted. "Morsi is our president!" Organizers played Morsi's old
speeches, referring to him as the nation's leader and the supreme commander of
the armed forces.
"The
problems of the first years could have been solved by dialogue, but the
opposition always refused," said 28-year-old Osama Youssef, who traveled
to Cairo from the eastern province of Sharqiya to show his support for Morsi.
"The opposition didn't succeed in getting power through constitutional
measures, so it chose to take power by staging a military coup."
Sayed
el-Banna, a 45-year-old Brotherhood member who came to Cairo from the Delta
province of al-Sharqia, said it was important to have many people in the
streets. "It is to send a message to those in the army who disagree with
el-Sissi to stand with us and support us," he said.
Meanwhile,
several thousand anti-Morsi protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square and
outside two presidential palaces to celebrate their gain. "The people and
the army and the police together against terrorism," declared a banner
stung across a stage set up at the presidential palace.
Army
choppers flying overhead dropped gift coupons and Egyptian flags on the
gathering in Tahrir Square and a police choir performed nationalist songs in a
party that lasted late into the night. The presence in the streets of the rival
sides had raised fears of clashes, and military and police were deployed
heavily in areas where the two crowds might collide. In one incident, near the
presidential palace, security forces lobbed tear gas at an approaching march by
Morsi supporters to prevent it from reaching an area where anti-Morsi
demonstrators were holding their own rally.
Only
minor incidents of violence were reported in the capital. Pro-Morsi supporters
and opponents shouted at one another after Friday prayers in the main Al-Azhar
Mosque and police detained six Islamist protesters for throwing rocks. Separately,
a man was stabbed and hospitalized when a crowd of the deposed president's
supporters questioned his identity and found out he was a policeman in civilian
clothing.
In the
Sinai peninsula, where militants long active in the area have intensified their
attacks against security forces following Morsi's ouster, two civilians were
killed when armed militants fired rockets at a military checkpoint, but hit a
residence nearby.
In a
clear attempt to widen their base of support, Brotherhood members appealed to
people join their rally, insisting the coup was about to be reversed. "To
those hesitating, wake up, the time for the end of the coup is nearing,"
senior Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian wrote in a posting on his Facebook
page.
Yasser
Meshren, a Brotherhood supporter who came to Cairo from the southern province
of Bani Sueif, accused the military of tricking the people by overseeing the
elections only to then remove Morsi, disband the country's interim parliament
and suspend the constitution, which was approved in a referendum.
"You
stole my mother and my sister's voice," Meshren said of the military
leadership. During their marches, the protesters made a concerted effort to
distinguish between the leaders of the military and the troops. At one point, a
group of pro-Morsi supporters approached a military checkpoint offering them
flowers.
Police
and military troops and armored vehicles were deployed heavily in Cairo around
security and military installations, court houses, and the capital's entrances.
Fighter jets flew over the protesters and military spokesman Col. Ahmed
Mohammed Ali issued a stern warning on Facebook, telling civilians not to pose
as military personnel or approach military installations or troops, saying
anyone doing so risked death.
The
military also dropped flyers warning against violence as a crowd of some 400
pro-Morsi protesters marched through northern Sinai's main city of el-Arish.
The flyers urged people to protect the Sinai Peninsula from
"terrorists" and provided two numbers for people to call to report
suspicious behavior.
Meanwhile,
the Brotherhood said seven leaders of its parent group, including the former
speaker of the parliament and an ultraconservative Salafi preacher, were
transported to a heavily guarded prison, a move the group said was illegal
because the men have not yet been charged. They have been accused, among other
things, of inciting violence.
The
ousted president, who has been replaced by interim leader Adly Mansour, has
been held incommunicado at an undisclosed military facility since his ouster.
He has not been charged with any crimes. The Brotherhood's TV channel has been
taken off the air along with other Islamic channels seen as sympathetic to the
group. Al-Jazeera's Egypt affiliate was raided by security forces, and on
Friday, the channel's signal, along with its flagship English and Arabic news
channels, were intermittently interrupted. The reasons for the disruptions were
not clear.
Pro-Morsi
protester Mostafa Fathi, a 33-year-old accountant, said he viewed Morsi's
ouster and the closure of the TV channels as signs the country was targeting
Islamists, as it did during Mubarak's near three-decade-long rule.
"We
don't want to go back to a police state or a state of injustice."
Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy contributed to this
report.










