News / Egypt

Egypt warns against uprising anniversary protests

Saturday, 09 January 2016 11:56 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 09 January 2016 11:57 AM ]

Protesters run for cover during clashes with police in Cairo, Jan. 25, 2015. ©AFP

Egypt has warned against holding anti-government protests on the anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled the country’s long-time dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments Mokhtar Gomaa denounced “calls to sabotage and attack the state” in an apparent reference to anti-government protests planned for the fifth anniversary.

“There are calls these days by infiltrators to attack the state, its institutions, and its people, through killing, assaulting and vandalizing,” Gomaa said, claiming that such calls were a violation of Islamic law.

Gamaa was quoting a statement by the Dar al-Ifta, an Egyptian body that rules on Islamic law.

He said maintaining stability and security of the country is a priority.

Calls for protests have been circulating on social media under the slogan “we will drop the tyranny.”

In an election after Mubarak’s ouster, Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohamed Morsi was elected president.

Morsi was later ousted in a military coup led by former military chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in July 2013.

The Egyptian government has been cracking down on any opposition since Morsi was ousted.

Sisi has been accused of leading the suppression of Morsi supporters and hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with Egyptian security forces over the past year.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has led to the deaths of over 1,400 including some 200 people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk