Thursday, September 13, 2012
Muslim Brotherhood calls for nationwide protests in Egypt, will we see a Red line drawn in Coptic Blood After Friday 'prayers' ?
Muslim Brotherhood calls for nationwide protests in Egypt, will we see a Red line drawn in Coptic Blood After Friday 'prayers' ?(TL).`The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's ruling party, called for nationwide protests on Friday against a controversial video that demeans Islam's prophet Muhammed. The call was made a day after U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Hours earlier, an Egyptian mob stormed the U.S. Embassy here. Scores of men scaled the embassy's security wall, shredding an American flag and raising a black al-Qaida banner. No injuries were reported. Spray-painted graffiti condemning the United States and supporting al-Qaida and its slain leader, Osama bin Laden, covered the embassy's security wall.
Those attacks and other regional protests purportedly were ignited by public anger over the anti-Islam video. Egyptian President Muhammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, waited more than 24 hours before posting a statement on his Facebook account. He condemned the video but did not directly mention the mob attack here or events in Libya, instead stating that Egypt "is responsible for private and public property," including diplomatic missions. The Brotherhood's message was posted on its Arabic-language website, while its English-language Twitter account condemned the embassy attack. Khaled Elgindy, a fellow at the U.S.-based Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, said Brotherhood officials "are so jealous of their Islamist credentials (that) they can't stand to be upstaged by anyone ... as far as who is more Islamist."
"I think that is why the Brotherhood has called for (Friday's) protest," he said.
Michael Hanna, an Egypt expert at New York's Century Foundation, called Morsi's response "mealy-mouthed" because "breaching an embassy is a big deal." "This is not a statement befitting the Egyptian president," he said. Hanna said
Morsi and other Brotherhood officials do not "want to be drawing bright red lines and condemning other Islamist demonstrators, particularly on what appears to be a hopped-up issue. They want to muddle through without being forced to take a very strong stand."
At the embassy early Thursday, scattered protesters chanted "I am a terrorist!" and "With our soul and blood, we will sacrifice for you, oh Muhammed!" Egyptian riot police nonchalantly stood around the defaced embassy, beckoning to be photographed.
Bin Laden's name and the message, "There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet," were spray-painted over the embassy's entryway. A white banner with the same message hung alongside. Metal letters identifying the embassy were partially removed and replaced with the scrawled words, "Embassy of the States of Muslim." Other graffiti declared "Oh, Obama, all our grandsons are Osama" and "Take care, America, we have 1.5 million bin Ladens." Late in the day, Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil read a statement urging Egyptians "to exercise restraint when expressing their anger" and calling the embassy attack "regrettable." He called on U.S. officials to prosecute the producers of the anti-Muhammed video. Hmmm.......And Obama will receive him at the White House, having no time for The Israeli PM.Read the full story here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment