(Photo by Ahmed Al-Malky)
Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi held a demonstration in front of High Court demanding the cancellation of the former president’s trial and the release of the arrested Morsi supporters.
Dozens of demonstrators chanted against Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim and General Prosecutor Hesham Barakat while demanding the release of those who were arrested last week during Al-Azhar University clashes and in additional violence in Alexandria on Friday.
Morsi will be tried on 4 November along with 14 others for alleged participation in the Presidential Palace clashes in December 2012. The former president has been held in undisclosed location since his military-backed ouster on 3 July.
The National Coalition to Support Legitimacy called for protests this week until the day of the trial under the name of “Trial of Popular Will”.
Such protests resulted in the arrest of 45 Morsi supporters in Alexandria amid clashes between their protest and residents of Sidi Beshr district on Friday.
22 women were also arrested in Alexandria after a demonstration they held in support of Morsi.
Earlier that week, 27 people were detained for 15 days for their participation in the clashes of Al-Azhar University, on Thursday.
The pro-Morsi demonstration was followed by a rally in support of Minister of Defence Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi. One demonstrator, a French language teacher who refused to disclose his name, said that the stand is to gather signatures to convince Al-Sisi to run for the presidency.
The other goal, the teacher said, was to “prevent a Muslim Brotherhood protest” but this had already concluded an hour before they arrived.
Approximately 50 pro-Sisi demonstrators chanted against former vice-president Mohamed El Baradei and satirist Bassem Youssef, describing them as “foreign agents.”
“Let those [Morsi supporters] demonstrate, let them do whatever signs they wish, but they must not chant against our army or police,” one demonstrator said. “This negatively affects our army and police and it negatively affects us.”
