Army removes Egyptian president (updated)

The Egyptian army has removed the country's president Mohamed Morsi from power. Before you make comparisons with Thailand, find out what is actually happening there. This AFP story is a good start.

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Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, made a televised address to the nation accusing Mr Morsi of rejecting calls for national dialogue AFP

(Afternoon update) Today’s debate: It’s a coup. No, it’s not a coup

When an army forcefully removes a country’s president, arrests him and suspends the constitution, you would normally call it a coup (word defined in story below). That is indeed what deposed president Morsi and his supporters are saying.

The army and Morsi’s opponents say no, it’s not a coup. The army is not official taking power, they say, and the army acted because a majority of Egyptians asked them to remove a leader who had betrayed the Egyptian revolution.

It makes a difference which word is finally chosen because if it is determined to be a coup, some countries – the United States, for example – have laws which will restrict relations with the coup-makers.

Egypt army topples Islamist president

By Samer Al Atarash (AFP)

CAIRO — The Egyptian army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday after a week of bloodshed that killed nearly 50 people as millions took to the streets to demand an end to his turbulent single year of rule.

The announcement, made on state television by Morsi's own defence minister, armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, drew a rapturous welcome from thousands of protesters who have camped out on the streets of Cairo for days.

Egyptian protesters calling for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi gather in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square on July 3, 2013. AFP

Sisi laid out details of the road map for a political transition, saying the Islamist-drafted constitution would be frozen and presidential elections held early, without specifying when.

The armed forces would "remain far away from politics," he stressed.

The din rang out immediately, and continued for hours, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital to celebrate, cheering, whistling, letting off firecrackers and honking car horns in joyous scenes.

In an amateur video posted online, Morsi declared "I am the elected president of Egypt" and urged people to "defend this legitimacy".

But the opposition Congress Party of former Arab League chief Amr Mussa said "this is not a coup".

"The 2,000-year-old Coptic Church, the 1,000-year-old Azhar mosque, the liberals, the Salafists (conservative Islamists), the police, the army are all behind the call for early elections," said a Congress spokesman.

Egyptian protesters gather in Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square as laser lights directed at a government building spell "Game Over" AFP

Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, came under massive pressure in the run-up to Sunday's anniversary of his maiden year in office, with his opponents accusing him of failing the 2011 revolution by concentrating power in the hands of his Muslim Brotherhood.

The embattled 61-year-old proposed a "consensus government" as a way out of the country's worst crisis since the 2011 uprising ended three decades of authoritarian rule by Hosni Mubarak.

But the United States urged Morsi to "do more" as a military deadline passed for him to meet the demands of the people following a week of bloody unrest during mass protests calling for him to quit.

The advice came too late as the army announced that the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly al-Mansour, a previously little known judge, would become the new leader of the Arab world's most populous country.

Morsi's camp had earlier denounced the army's intervention as a coup.

"For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let's call what is happening by its real name: military coup," Essam al-Haddad, Morsi's national security adviser, said in a statement on Facebook.