PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS AGAINST ‘BIASED OBAMA’ IN EGYPT
Alexandria, 21 Dzulqa’idah 1434/26 September 2013 (MINA) – Supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi on Thursday protested outside the US consulate in the coastal city of Alexandria against what they called US President Barack Obama’s ‘bias’ towards Egypt’s new military-backed rulers.
Carrying placards blasting Obama’s Tuesday speech before the UN General Assembly, protesters accused Washington of “planning and allying with the current [military] authority to oust Morsi.”
On Tuesday, Obama told the UN General Assembly that Egypt’s interim government had supported Morsi’s ouster based on the desires of millions of Egyptians “who believed the [Egyptian] revolution had taken a wrong turn.”
But the interim government, the US president said, “has made decisions inconsistent with inclusive democracy through an emergency law and restrictions on the press and civil society and opposition.”
Obama added that even though Morsi had been democratically elected, he had nevertheless “proved unwilling or unable to govern in a way that was fully inclusive.”
The US president went on to affirm that Washington would “maintain a constructive relationship with the interim government that promotes core [US] interests like the Camp David Accords.”
But, he added, US support would also “depend upon Egypt’s progress in pursuing a more democratic path.”
Pro-democracy demonstrators, for their part, decried what they called “US support for the current Egyptian regime,” while shouting chants critical of Egypt’s military, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was deposed by the country’s military establishment on July 3 after massive and well-coordinated protests against his presidency.
The unconstitutional change of government is described by the ousted president’s backers as a “military coup,” while supporters of the move call it a military-backed “popular uprising.” (T/P09/E1).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
