This combo image shows: Egyptian protesters calling for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi (Top) and Egyptian supporters of President Mohamed Morsi (Bottom) (credit AFP Photo)
Egypt, Cairo: A military coup is underway in Egypt, according to Mohamed Morsi's national security adviser and a Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson. Security forces have placed a travel ban on Morsi and a number of top Brotherhood officials, according to AFP credit sources.
Security sources told Reuters that authorities had sent a list of at least 40 leading members of the Brotherhood to airport police.
Egyptian troops, including commandos, are deploying at key sites and intersections throughout Egypt, including Suez and the highway to Alexandria. Several hundred soldiers, together with armored vehicles are taking part in a military parade on the road near the presidential palace, a witness told Reuters. The army reportedly erected barbed wire and barriers around the barracks where Morsi was working.
National security adviser Essam El-Haddad said that "no military coup can succeed in the face of sizeable popular force without considerable bloodshed." He added that he expects army and police violence to remove pro-Mursi demonstrators from the streets of Cairo.
Troops have moved into place near the Rabaa Adaweya mosque area, where tens of thousands of supporters of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood are rallying in support of the president, a Reuters journalist reported. But the Egyptian army denied that it was moving in on Morsi supporters, saying "The Egyptian army belongs to all Egyptians."
A presidential aide said it was unclear if the president would be free to leave later to return to the palace. He added that Morsi's message to all Egyptians is to resist the military coup peacefully without using violence. As reported by RT News
Morsi won't step down, proposes unity govt
[pullquote_left]Morsi has offered a consensus government as a way out of the country's crisis, but offered no new compromises. The leader has refused to step down, and instructed the military not to "take sides."[/pullquote_left]
The proposed coalition government would include a Prime Minister elected by political powers, according to a presidential statement. The statement added that "the scenario that some parties are trying to impose is rejected by the people."
The military ultimatum given to President Mohamed Morsi has come and gone, as hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets. Morsi previously rejected the deadline, which gave him 48 hours to meet the demands of the people before facing army intervention.
Just before the afternoon deadline imposed by the military expired, Morsi again rejected army intervention. The leader said that abiding by his electoral legitimacy was the only way to prevent violence. He criticized the military for "taking only one side."
"One mistake that cannot be accepted, and I say this as president of all Egyptians, is to take sides," Morsi said in a statement issued by his office. "Justice dictates that the voice of the masses from all squares should be heard."
The meeting between Commander-In-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Abdul Fatah Khalil Al-Sisi, and political forces is still ongoing, Al Arabiya reports. The most important issue being discussed is reportedly that of sending reassuring messages to the Brotherhood's leaders.
The two sides seem unwilling to budge, with protesters stating that Morsi and his Brotherhood party are pushing an Islamist agenda on Egypt.
Morsi believes it would be better to die “standing like a tree,” defending the electoral legitimacy of his office, than to go down in history as having destroyed Egyptians’ hopes for democracy, presidential spokesperson Ayman Ali said, as quoted by Reuters.
Protesters calling for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square on July 3, 2013 (AFP Photo / Gianluigi Guercia)
Transitional period, then elections
Egypt's state news agency MENA says a short transitional period will be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.
The country's leading Muslim and Christian clerics and the leader of the liberal opposition alliance Mohamed El-Baradei will jointly present a roadmap for a political transition shortly. Army generals will be present at the announcement, along with members of the Tamarud youth protest movement.
The clerics would be the Grand Sheikh of Cairo's Al-Azhar institution, a leading authority in the Muslim world, and Pope Tawadros, the head of the Coptic Church and leader of Egypt's millions of Christians.
Army sources had previously said the army would issue a statement after the deadline expires at about 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) but no time has yet been set for official statements, according to the Facebook page of Egyptian military spokesman Col. Ahmad Muhammad Ali.
At least 39 people have died since anti-Morsi protests began on Sunday. A night of deadly clashes in Cairo on Tuesday night claimed the lives of at least 16 people, most of whom died in a single incident near Cairo University.
The Brotherhood blamed police for the shooting. The Interior Ministry said it was investigating and the governor of the Giza province, where the clash occurred, submitted his resignation.
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