MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh, Reuters – “Egypt’s leading religious authority warned of ‘civil war’ on Friday and called for calm as political factions clashed ahead of major rallies the opposition hopes can force the Islamist president to quit.

A member of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood was shot dead overnight. Dozens of people were wounded in Alexandria, many by shotgun pellets, when opposition marchers clashed with Islamists on Friday, two days before President Mohamed Mursi’s critics hopes millions take to the streets to demand new elections.

‘Vigilance is required to ensure we do not slide into civil war,’ clerics of the Al-Azhar institute said. In a statement broadly supportive of Mursi, it blamed ‘criminal gangs’ who besieged mosques for street violence which the Brotherhood said has killed five of its supporters in a week.

The movement’s political wing warned of ‘dire consequences that will pull the country into a violent spiral of anarchy’. It held liberal leaders, including former top U.N. diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei, personally responsible for inciting violence by hired ‘thugs’ once employed by the ousted dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

Opposition leaders also condemned the violence.

In Alexandria, at least 36 people were wounded, a Health Ministry source said, many by birdshot when hundreds scuffled outside a local office of the Muslim Brotherhood. A Reuters reporter saw about a dozen men break off from an anti-Mursi march on the seafront to throw rocks at the building’s guards.

They responded. Bricks and bottles flew. Gunshots went off. Ambulances arrived. Military helicopters hovered overhead.

There was no immediate sign of trouble as thousands of Islamists gathered round a Cairo mosque after weekly prayers to show support for Mursi. His opponents hope millions will turn out on Sunday to demand new elections, a year to the day since he was sworn in as Egypt’s first freely chosen leader.

‘I came to support the legitimate order,’ said Ahmed al-Maghrabi, 37, a shopkeeper from the Nile Delta city of Mansoura whose hand bore grazes from street fighting there this week. ‘I am with the elected president. He needs to see out his term.’

There was a mostly festive atmosphere in the hot sunshine, with vendors selling mango and cakes and banners flying.

Some opposition gatherings were also under way. A handful of protesters watched security men ringing the presidential palace, the focus for Sunday’s Cairo rally. Mursi has moved elsewhere.

A few thousand milled around in the capital’s Tahrir Square, cradle of the revolution. Some waved red cards reading ‘Out!’, in preparation for the big demonstration against the president.

The army, which heeded mass protests in early 2011 to push aside Mubarak, has warned it will intervene again if there is violence and to defend the “will of the people”. Both sides believe that means the military may support their positions.” Read more.

Flashback: Salafi Leader In Egypt: To Conspire Against Islamist President Morsi Is To Conspire Against God – “Salafi (ultraconservative) leader and member of the constituent assembly, tasked with rewriting the constitution, Saeed Abdel Azeem, said that conspiring against Egypt’s ruler (President Mohamed Mursi) is equal to conspiring against God… He added in his Eid speech on Sunday in Alexandria’s Shohadaa Square that Egypt will return to being ruled by Islam and Prophet Mohamed’s Sunnah and not democracy, socialism or nationalism.” Read more.

Flashback: Egyptian Cleric: It Is Permissible To Kill Anyone Who Protests Against Islamist President Morsi – “The legitimate president is Dr. Mohamed Morsi, and anyone who goes out to (to protest) on August 24 … will be committing the crimes of hiraba and high treason against the country, against Allah, against His Messenger, and against the believers. Therefore, I convey the following fatwa to the Egyptian people: Confront these people, and if they fight you, fight them… If some of you are killed by them, you will go to Paradise, and if you kill them, no ‘blood money’ will be warranted, because their killing is permissible.” Read more.