July 9, 2013, Egypt updates

In a live broadcast from Egyptian state TV, the grand imam of al-Azhar said the country should be for one and all, calling for unity among all Egyptians.

I am forced to take seclusion and live inside my home until all parties take responsibility to steer our country away from civil war, which we have on many occasions managed stayed away from.

Fawaz Gerges, Director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics (LSE), has these comments on what is next for Egypt after at least 42 people have been shot dead early this morning:

I hate to be cynical, but I think the Muslim Brotherhood will be much more determined than ever, they will try to fully mobilize their ranks. The Salafis basically said they want nothing to do with the opposition coalition. Another major leading centrist Islamist also called what happened this morning a massacre. You have a great deal of empathy to Muslim Brotherhood in the public, but the public is also deeply polarized. The situation is extremely fragile, Egypt has entered a period of uncertainty.

What happened in Egypt now consolidates the army’s power in Egyptian politics. Their decision has put them in the eye of the storm even though a lot of people have asked for Morsi to step down.

I am sceptical of the possibility of reconciliation because the Muslim Brotherhood are determined to continue their resistance until Morsi has been returned to power.
The Egyptian Army spokesperson Ahmed Ali has made these remarks during his most recent statement: 

-The first goal of the military was to protect and safeguard Egyptian citizens without any discrimination. All citizens of Egypt are under the military’s responsibility. The second goal was to guard all strategic institutions and facilities.

-The army issued more than one warning: That military personnel cannot be approached. This is common knowledge in any country in the world.

-Images of children and women killed today have been played. How can children be implicated in these heated incidents. These are illogical images are the same as the ones used on a Syrian website of children killed in Syria. I repeat; the Egyptian Armed Forces targets its enemies, not its children. We will hand out CDs containing these videos we are showing.

-I would like to stress that the EAF have handed down more than one statement that we are heading towards a truly democratic, civil state, admirable to the whole world. I will convert my personal feeling and sentiment among officers; we are all proud to be Egyptians. But the image of Egypt over the past days made us more proud of being Egyptians; this is true. We hope that the coming period of time and the new Egypt we speak of where values of tolerance, reconciliation and peace have been reinstated. Egypt will be built by all Egyptians. Egypt cannot be built by anger, it will be built by the strong arms of all Egyptians without any exception or discrimination. Those who demonstrate on Nahda Square are Egyptian citizens, our brothers and sisters. We call on them to remain peaceful. The EAF promise not to hunt down any person. All Egyptians are free men so long as they do not violate the law. There will be no martial law in the coming days.

Below is a part of the statement by the Police Spokesperson, who spoke before Ahmed Ali:

Social and economic differences have divided people against security personnel, but they continued for the sake of the Egyptian people their duties and sacrificed their blood and sweat. Now there is a strategic security plan taking place in the country for the past 2 years. Security and police personnel have deep experience with how to deal with gatherings and how to separate peaceful demonstrations and angry youths who riot. Like what happened in Simon Bolivar and Mohammed Mahmoud in the past.

These security plans were also in place in the June 30 gathering: Security presence across the nation, securing strategic institutions and public facilities and also providing security to all peaceful gatherings. These plans have been put in effect since June 25. In these plans, 440,000 police and security personnel took part. In June 30 when millions of Egyptians took to the streets across the nation, and in efforts by police, no single commercial shop was robbed despite the fact that all people from different factions were on streets.

Over the 2 days after that, 3000 firearms were seized, 347 outlaw criminals have been (detained).

From June 28 until today, 12 of the police have fallen martyrs. 107 have been injured. Those were taking part in providing security to gatherings. After June 30 when events developed and the country started to see a new wave of violence, starting from Sinai and spreading to other cities. In Sinai over the past days, 7 police were killed, others were injured during heavy gun exchange.
As the country goes through political upheaval once again, what do the events in Cairo mean for the region? Has the Arab Spring which was supposed to bring hope and change to the Middle East just become a distant memory as supporters of democracy and change are still battling with the forces of repression and stagnation.
51 dead , 432 injured according to ambulance authority #egypt