Morsi Pushes Forward Amid Egyptian Protests

REUTERS/Handout

Morsi Pushes Forward Amid Egyptian Protests

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was forced to leave the presidential palace on Tuesday after tens of thousands of protestors descended upon it in opposition to a presidential decree that places Morsi above judicial oversight. The protests have gone on for 12 straight days since Morsi issued the decree on November 22. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd as they climbed atop military vehicles that surrounded the complex and spray-painted anti-Islamist slogans on the security walls. Protestors shouted “leave, leave” and “the people want to topple the regime,” two well-known chants from the Arab Spring revolts that toppled Mubarak in 2011. Though Morsi’s spokesman said the president left the palace at the end of his work schedule through the door he usually used, one anonymous official said Morsi left on the advice of security officials at the palace.

However, the following day Morsi was back at the palace, hard at work.

Since Morsi handed himself dictatorial-like power on November 22, he and the Muslim Brotherhood have worked tirelessly to ramrod through a new pro-Islamic constitution for Egypt. Working quickly and ruthlessly, they have succeeded in putting Egypt on track to become an Islamic state. As Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said, “The Muslim Brotherhood is determined to go ahead with its own plans regardless of everybody else. There is no compromise on the horizon.”

The events from this past weekend attest to that.

The constitutional assembly tasked with drafting Egypt’s new constitution worked tirelessly through the day, night, and into the next morning of November 29 and 30 to pass the most recent draft. Originally containing Muslim, Christian, and liberal members, the assembly has faced heavy criticism for being heavily dominated by Muslims. Because of this, all the Christian members left the assembly, leaving the remaining liberals to be pushed aside while the Muslim majority pushed the draft through.

The assembly’s timing in passing the draft narrowly beat out a vote from the Supreme Constitutional Court to dissolve the controversial assembly. The court was scheduled to vote on the legitimacy of both the constitutional assembly and the upper parliament on Sunday. The Muslim Brotherhood responded by staging a protest in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court, baring access to the building, and effectively giving the legislative branch of government immunity from judicial interruptions. The constitutional draft was successfully passed in the assembly before the Supreme Court’s decision was finalized.

When Morsi granted himself near-absolute power, above review of the courts, he also declared that same power for the constitutional assembly as well. Morsi was thus enabled to pass the constitution through without incident. (The courts had previously dissolved the first two drafting committees.) The Muslim Brotherhood has since rushed to defend Morsi, blaming the judges for forcing Morsi to take full power. “[T]he court’s judges are loyalists of ousted president Hosni Mubarak,” they claimed, “who appointed them to their positions, and are trying to derail the country’s transition to democratic rule.”

Activists have claimed that the Brotherhood has been paying gangs of men to “beat male protestors and sexually assault women” who were protesting against Morsi in Tahrir Square on Friday. According to the activists, 20 such attacks have been reported in the past 10 days. The Times spoke to two men who both admitted that they belonged to a group of 65 men who were paid to “sexually harass girls so they leave the demonstration,” and cause disruptions to disperse protesters and instill fear.

The Brotherhood also staged a couple of its own rallies over the weekend to counterbalance the protestors. The first one they staged on Saturday was bolstered in numbers when the Brotherhood chartered hundreds of busses to “bring masses of Islamic activists into the capital.” The second protest began on Sunday outside the Supreme Constitutional Court and continued for days.

Though Morsi’s sudden power grab has brought him a lot of criticism from his own nation and the international community, don’t expect it to dissuade the Islamists from their ultimate objective: the radicalization of Egypt. Radical Islam will not back down—so says biblical prophecy. For years, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has prophesied that Egypt would turn radical and align with Iran. Don’t expect America to oust this new dictator, or for the Egyptian people to overthrow him like they did Mubarak. Egypt’s course is set.