Muslim Brotherhood decries killing of Morsi supporters in Cairo 'massacre'
Egypt's crisis plumbed new depths on Monday after 42 supporters of Mohamed Morsi were killed by government security forces in Cairo, triggering a call by the Muslim Brotherhood for an uprising to restore the deposed president to power.
The country's single bloodiest incident of recent times took place outside a Republican Guard club in the capital where Morsi is rumoured to be in detention. The Brotherhood condemned what it called a massacre. The army said "terrorists" had attempted to storm the heavily guarded building. The health ministry said 322 people had been injured.
The fantasy notions that the latest military coup in Egypt was going to usher in a new regime of western secular democracy don't really seem to be turning out very well. The supporters if the deposed Morsi government are not disposed to knuckle under quietly. They are basically doing the same thing that the opponents of the government did to precipitate the takeover. They are taking to the streets.
The weekend saw a political farce of fumbling efforts to form a new government. It was announced that Mohamad ElBaradei would be appointed prime minister. He was quickly embraced as the ideal poster boy for the new brand of democracy. However, that didn't fly so well in Egypt and the idea was withdrawn before the appointment could be confirmed. That prompted the conservative Salafi al-Nour party to completely withdraw from talks on government formation. That situation remains is chaos.
I would like to invite the attention of people interested in the situation to an excellent diary that was posted over the weekend by someone with actual on the ground experience in Egypt.
The Egyptian Judiciary: The Key to the July Coup
I found it very useful in gaining a better understanding of what has been happening over the past two years. It confirms my sense that there is not an easy simple solution to this problem.