By Mariam Iskander
The Muslim Brotherhood guidance office held a meeting with the consultative council Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya on Wednesday to discuss the final arrangements for planned demonstrations on 21 June.
The meeting was held at the Moqattam headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood to discuss details of the planned Friday demonstrations designed to “support [President Mohamed Morsi] and reject the use of violence [in protests],” as reported by Aswat Masriya.
Among the important figures from Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya who attended the meeting were Dr Essam Derbala, Dr Tarek El-Zomor, Dr Safwat Abdel Ghani and Sheikh Mohamed Shawqi Al-Islamboli. Also in attendance were members of the Brotherhood’s guidance office, headed by the Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, according to state-run Al-Ahram.
A statement issued by Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya and published by state-owned news agency MENA said that the planned demonstrations would be held in front of Nasr City’s Rabaa Al-Adaweya Mosque, and that the preparatory meeting had discussed “how to effect a national alignment during the current phase in the country’s stabilisation and development process… and face the counter-revolution.”
The head of the political bureau of the Building and Development Party, Tarek Al-Zomor, called on all Egyptians to join in the 21 June demonstrations to support the president’s legitimacy, saying that Morsi represents “not just the Brotherhood or the Freedom and Justice Party, but all Egyptians,” as reported by Aswat Masriya.
The 21 June demonstrations are being held as a response by Islamist parties to the opposition’s Tamarod movement, which plans to hold demonstrations on 30 June in repudiation of Morsi’s government.
