As huge crowds of pro- and anti-government protesters massed in the streets of Cairo Wednesday afternoon and the army deployed armored vehicles, a top adviser to embattled Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared that a military coup was underway and warned that “considerable bloodshed” could ensue.Al Ahram English has nothing on this so far.
Dozens of armored vehicles were deployed at eastern Cairo’s Rabaa Adawiya Mosque and outside Cairo University, where hundreds of thousands of Morsi supporters gathered. The president’s supporters and opponents were waiting to see whether Egypt’s powerful army would take action, as promised, once its deadline for Morsi and his opponents to forge a political agreement had expired.
There were unconfirmed reports, meanwhile, that Morsi and the top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that constitutes the president’s main base of support, were being banned from travel.
Two top Brotherhood officials reached by phone on Wednesday dismissed rumors that Morsi and his aides had been put under house arrest or barred from leaving the country. “This is not true. This is all empty talk,” said Abdullah Shehata, a prominent Brotherhood member. “Everything is fine.”
Al Jazeera adds:
Egypt's embattled President Mohamed Morsi has proposed a consensus government as a way out of the country's crisis, as an army deadline urging him to meet the protesters' demands expired.Things are still very fuzzy. Chances are I won't be able to live blog this, but just a heads-up.
"The presidency envisions the formation of a consensus coalition government to oversee the next parliamentary election," his office said on Wednesday in a statement on Facebook.
The statement reiterated that Morsi held opposition parties responsible for obstructing a political initiative that would also set up a panel to prepare amendments to the constitution passed into law last December.
Egypt is bracing for a showdown between the military and Morsi, who has rejected the army ultimatum to end a political crisis with his opponents, who have called for his resignation.