Egyptians call for daily demos before Morsi trial
Date 2013/11/1 9:33:13 | Topic: Egypt
| Anti-coup protesters in Egypt have called for daily demonstrations before deposed President Mohamed Morsi goes on trial next week on charges of inciting violence.
In a statement issued on Thursday, a Muslim Brotherhood-led coalition, known as Anti-Coup Alliance, called “on all proud, free Egyptians to gather in the squares in protest against these trials... starting on Friday."
Morsi and 14 other senior Brotherhood figures will appear in court in the capital Cairo on November 4.
The trial of Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, who was removed from office in a military coup in July, could further inflame tensions between the Brotherhood and the army-installed interim government.
The coalition called on people to gather outside a police institute near Cairo's Tora prison, where the trial is due to take place.
"We will deploy around 20,000 security officers around the area where Morsi's trial will take place and thousands of others will be ready if protests or violence erupt anywhere in Egypt," a senior Interior Ministry official said.
Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since July 3, when the army toppled the Morsi government, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the parliament. It also appointed the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, as the new interim president.
Since his overthrow, Morsi has been held in a secret location.
The government of Mansour has launched a bloody crackdown on Morsi supporters and arrested more than 2,000 Brotherhood members, including the party’s leader, Mohamed Badie, who was detained on August 20.
About 1,000 people were killed in a week of violence between Morsi supporters and security forces after police dispersed their protest camps in a deadly operation on August 14.
The massacre sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.
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