Friday, November 23, 2012

Morsi 'power grab' angers Egypt opposition groups


Leaders call for Friday protests as ElBaradei says president has appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh

in Cairo
guardian.co.uk,
Egyptian opposition groups are calling for mass protests amid mounting anger at President Mohamed Morsi's surprise decision to give himself, and the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution, extraordinary new powers.....

"This is a coup against legitimacy. We call on all Egyptians to protest in all of Egypt's squares on Friday," Sameh Ashour, head of the Egyptian Lawyers syndicate told a news conference called with two of Morsi's prominent political opponents, Amr Moussa and Mohamed ElBaradei.
Morsi, who was feted on the international stage for his key role in bringing to an end the violence in Gaza, issued the decree on Thursday, which also ordered the retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak and officials and security force members accused of killing protesters during the country's revolution.
Although the ending of impunity for those who had committed crimes during the ousting of Mubarak would be widely popular, opposition groups described other new measures a as a power grab.
Presented as a move to "protect the revolution", the decree won immediate praise from Morsi's allies but stoked fears among secular-minded Egyptians that the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies aim to dominate the new Egypt......"

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