A spokesman for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said its members were willing to act as human shields to protect President Mohamed Mursi from a “military coup”, as an army imposed deadline approaches for Mursi to reach a power sharing deal with the opposition.
Mursi made a defiant speech yesterday night in which he offered concessions but said he would sacrifice his life to protect the legitimacy of his office. The military, meanwhile, issued a statement saying it was willing to protect the country from “terrorists and fools.”
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that are Mursi’s main backers, said it appeared a military coup was underway.
Military sources say the army had drafted a plan to sideline Mursi and suspend the constitution after a 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) deadline passes on today the 3rd of July. But a military source has since denied several local press reports on the details of the army’s “political roadmap” to resolve the standoff and said he expected the army to first call political, social and economic figures for talks to decide what to do next.
El-Haddad said the military had no right to impose political solutions.
El-Haddad said Mursi’s supporters were willing to put themselves in harm’s way to protect Egypt’s fledgling democracy.
Mursi’s opponents accuse him and the Muslim Brotherhood of seeking to dominate the transition to democracy at the expense of the national interest. But El-Haddad said only elected institutions could find a solution to the political impasse, and that the public will should be expressed through negotiation and parliamentary elections.
El-Haddad said that Mursi had acted within his authority to lead the transition process and that the military was overstepping its authority.
Liberal opposition leaders, who have vowed not to negotiate with Mursi since the ultimatum was issued, immediately denounced his refusal to go as a “declaration of civil war.”
