Egypt's Revolution No Longer Jasmine

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

Egypt's Revolution No Longer Jasmine


 

 

 

Egypt's once Jasmin revolution has eventually turned into something you can't call by any flower's name. From white, the color has turned red, and no red or crimson flower has also the smell of blood. Morsi of Muslim Brotherhood replaced Mubarak on the crest of a mass wave that was readily called a revolution, white, -  not much tinged with red. Many, even at the time, felt Muslim Brotherhood's ascendancy as anti climax and foreboding trouble. They were proved right. So, came another and similar wave to sweep away Morsi who had proved to be even worse than Mubarak. Morsi also did the mortal mistake of alienating the military which soon stormed the twice born mass protest in to mass fury, uprooting Morsi and consigning him in to its barracks. The worst then happened, turning jasmine into crimson. On Saturday, Egyptian security forces and armed men in plain clothes killed scores of Muslim Brotherhood protesters  as the crackdown on the Islamist party and its supporters appeared to be gathering pace 

The latest violence came amid the continuing sharp polarization within Egyptian society that has made the country increasingly ungovernable. Elsewhere on Friday, eight people were reported killed in clashes in Alexandria. The shootings occurred as the interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said that Morsi – who has been held incommunicado at an army base for the last three weeks – was being moved to Torah prison, where Mubarak is also being held. Earlier, on Friday, civilian prosecutors announced they had launched an investigation into Morsi on charges of murder and conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. At the heart of the case are allegations that Morsi and the Brotherhood worked with Hamas to carry out an attack on a prison that succeeded in breaking Morsi and around 30 other members of the group out of detention during the 2011 uprising against Mubarak. 

The clashes began after hundreds of Morsi supporters moved out of their encampment outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque late on Friday and towards a bridge in central Cairo. One group began to set up tents on an adjoining boulevard, where they were planning to stay for at least three days, said Mahmoud Zaqzouq, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman. The crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood's supporters came after national demonstrations called by the chief of the army, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to give him backing to confront violence and terrorism. On Saturday afternoon police released helicopter footage purporting to show Muslim Brotherhood members firing sporadically on police

During the three weeks Morsi has spent in secret detention, he has been extensively interrogated by military intelligence officials about the inner workings of his presidency and of the Brotherhood. The army suspects that he committed crimes, including handing state secrets to the Islamist group. According to the Associated Press, briefed by unidentified military officials, Morsi has been moved three times under heavy guard and is currently in a facility outside Cairo.