Mursi orders police withdrawal from Port Said streets
Article intéressant et assez détaillé sur les violences à Port Saïd et ce qu’elles révèlent, notamment sur la gestion de cette crise par le gouvernement et le rôle de l’armée et de la police.
Plus de 420 blessés dont environ 60 par balles, 6 morts dont 3 policiers (dernier bilan - AFP).
Egypt’s al-Shorouk newspaper quoted a military source as saying that the interior ministry forces were no longer capable of ensuring security in the city and that the army was asked to intervene.
Al Arabiya TV broadcast footage Monday of army officers attending the funeral of a protester who was shot dead by unknown gunmen.
At times in the violence, frictions have arisen between the police that were battling protesters and army forces that tried to break up the fighting. Troops in between the two sides were overwhelmed by police tear gas, one army colonel was wounded by live fire, and troops even opened fire over the heads of police, bringing cheers from protesters.
Three policemen and three civilians were killed in the fighting, and troops stood by as protesters torched a government complex Monday that contains the city’s main police building, the Associated Press reported.
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Unable to halt the violence, both the police and military Monday sought to deny any tensions between them. Meanwhile, there was no official comment from the presidency following one of the worst flare-ups of violence since January.
Unrest also spread in other parts of the country. In the capital, Cairo, protesters blocked the main thoroughfare along the Nile River, and police tried to clear them with volleys of tear gas. Other disgruntled young men set fire to two police cars in two different locations in Cairo, sending police fleeing the vehicles in the middle of traffic.
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Hundreds of Port Said residents, followed by some in other provinces, took the symbolic step of going to public registrar offices to issue “power of delegation” documents asking the military to step in “manage” the country.
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Such a clash between two powerful institutions “warns of the decay of the state,” he said. There were increasing signs from the generals of their displeasure with Mursi’s management of the country and lack of political openness, he said, raising the specter of military intervention, perhaps not to remove Mursi but to prevent a breakdown.
Mursi supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood have downplayed rising expressions of discontent. Mohammed el-Beltagi, a senior Brotherhood member, told reporters that Egyptians will never accept the military back in power.
Another senior Brotherhood member, Gamal Heshmat, told the legislature Monday that the media is portraying Port Said as if it is “on fire.”
On Monday, both the military and the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, sought to dispel any sign of friction between their forces. The Interior Ministry issued a statement saying “unknown elements” fired arbitrarily at the police and military with the aim of sowing sedition and causing escalation.
In a statement late Sunday, the military denied it fired at police. On Monday, the military spokesman Ali said that the fact that people on both sides were injured indicates that unknown elements were behind the gunfire.
▻http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/03/05/269736.html
Un autre article sur le sujet de Samuel Forey (correspondant au Caire et en Egypte), qui revient sur les causes de ces violences : ▻http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2013/03/04/01003-20130304ARTFIG00453-port-said-au-bord-de-l-embrasement.php