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Clashes at Egypt’s Presidential Palace Egypt’s Divisions Deepen as Protests Rage Outside Presidential Palace
(3 days later)
CAIRO — Protesters threw incendiary devices over the walls of Egypt’s presidential palace during Friday demonstrations against President Mohamed Morsi, leading to clashes with riot police officers that filled the area with tear gas and threatened to deepen Egypt’s spiraling political crisis. CAIRO — During an anti-government demonstration on Friday, protesters hurled fire bombs over the wall of Egypt’s presidential palace, setting fire to a gatehouse in a symbolically potent show of disregard for the country’s leader.
The violence drew a quick condemnation from Mr. Morsi, who blamed unnamed "political forces" for inciting what he said was an attempt to "storm the gates of the palace." He promised that the security forces would respond “decisively.” Riot police responded by firing tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators, and television cameras captured officers near the palace stripping and beating a man. By midnight, the Health Ministry reported that one protester was killed in the violence. A day after Egypt’s new Islamist leaders held talks with their political opponents for the first time about solving the crisis, each side blamed the other for the conflagration outside the palace, apparently extinguishing any hope they might quickly resolve their differences.
“We stress that such violent practices have nothing to do with the principles of the revolution or legitimate means of expression,” said his statement on Twitter. “We hold political forces that might have incited such violent actions fully responsible until results of the investigation are known.” As clashes raged on a broad avenue outside the presidential palace and thousands of demonstrators marched in cities along the Suez Canal, the warring parties reverted to the recriminations that Egypt’s defense minister recently warned had brought the country to the brink of collapse. The feuds have fed an atmosphere of growing polarization that many Egyptians blame for a rising tide of violence. The actions by some protesters on Friday — and the officers’ response — seemed to confirm another fear: neither the opposition parties nor the government exercises firm control over the confrontations in the streets.
The statement also called on “patriotic forces” to denounce the violence and “urge their supporters to immediately withdraw from the palace area.” In a statement, President Mohamed Morsi blamed unnamed “political forces” for inciting what he said was an attempt to “storm the gates of the palace.”
The clashes started after a peaceful anti-government sit-in that lasted several hours outside the palace walls. As night fell, a small group of protesters threw incendiary devices over a palace gate, while officers inside fired a water cannon back, to disperse protesters but also to douse small fires, including one that started on a guardhouse by the gate. “We stress that such violent practices have nothing to do with the principles of the revolution or legitimate means of expression,” the statement said. It called on “patriotic forces” to denounce the violence and “urge their supporters to immediately withdraw from the palace area.”
On a broad avenue in front of the palace, armored carriers advanced, firing heavy amounts of tear gas and driving the protesters back. Security officers set fire to tents the protesters had set up across the street from the palace, and threw protest banners on small fires that were lit in the streets. The National Salvation Front, the largest coalition of secular-leaning opposition groups, said it had no connection to the violence and blamed “Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood group that he belongs to” for the “state of congestions and tension prevailing in the Egyptian society for the last two months.”
The clashes came after a week of violence in several Egyptian cities that left more than 50 people dead, leading Egypt’s defense minister to warn of the potential “collapse” of the state. It remained to be seen whether the fighting at the palace would turn into a deeper conflagration, like the deadly clashes outside the presidential palace in December between Mr. Morsi’s supporters and anti-government protesters. The Brotherhood said on Friday that its members were staying away from the clashes and did not wish to be “dragged into the violence.”
By early evening, away from the presidential palace in central Cairo, thousands of anti-Morsi protesters marched on the Nile Corniche in central Cairo, chanting, “The people want the fall of the regime.” The clashes started after a peaceful sit-in that lasted several hours outside the palace walls, where protesters chanted against the rule of Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
But though the number of protesters was still growing, there was no immediate sign that the clashes were turning into a broader conflagration, like the deadly violence that broke out at the palace in December, when supporters of President Morsi fought with anti-government protesters. The Muslim Brotherhood said on its Twitter account that it was not sending its members to the protest, and that it would not “be dragged into violence.” Witnesses said that when a young man briefly climbed onto the palace wall, that crowd chanted for him to get down, eager not to provoke a confrontation with the riot police.
With Egypt’s political elites warring and street violence taking on a life of its own, young revolutionaries organized a rare meeting of the country’s polarized political forces on Tuesday. But the peace did not last long after dark. A small group of protesters threw fire bombs over a palace gate, and launched fireworks toward buildings on the palace grounds. Officers inside fired a water cannon back to disperse demonstrators but also to douse small fires.
The meeting included the leaders of the secular-leaning opposition, and the Muslim Brotherhood, and resulted in a statement in which all the participants agreed to condemn violence. Despite those statements, many doubted whether any of the participants had the influence to alter the dynamics on the ground. Within an hour, the fighting had intensified, with armored personnel carriers advancing and firing tear gas into the crowd, which was forced back several blocks from the palace. Security officers set fire to tents set up by protesters across the street from the palace and threw flags and banners on bonfires in the street.
In the last few days, the violence has abated in the cities along the Suez Canal, including in Port Said, where most of the deaths occurred — but only after the police largely disappeared from the streets, leaving the army in charge of security. In Cairo, clashes occur daily at what has become a regular spot, at the foot of the Kasr el-Nil bridge near Tahrir Square. The riot police officers, who report to the Interior Ministry, also captured and beat several protesters, witnesses said. In one of the beatings, which was captured on live television, officers could be seen dragging a naked middle-aged man, covered in soot, across the asphalt toward an armored personnel carrier. For many, the image served as a reminder that more than two years after Egypt’s uprising, the Interior Ministry remains one of the country’s many recalcitrant institutions, unreformed by Egypt’s new leaders and saddled with poorly trained officers who resort quickly to abuse. The Interior Ministry said it would investigate the beating.
“The protests and the violence seem to not be in the full control of anyone, including the opposition,” said Samer S. Shehata, an assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University and an expert on Egyptian politics. “Things are more critical in some senses than the days when Mubarak was ousted. The authority of the state is really in question. Some people are no longer accepting the legitimacy of political institutions, including the presidency — and not just the officeholder,” he said. In recent days, signs emerged that Egypt’s political elite, unnerved by the sudden erosion of the state’s authority, were working to settle some of their differences. Earlier this week, opposition parties reached across ideological lines for the first time, as a hard-line Islamist party joined with the National Salvation Front to put pressure on Mr. Morsi to form a new government.
Several factors would determine whether efforts at a dialogue, like the one on Thursday, could pull Egypt from the brink, he said. They could succeed, he said, if Mr. Morsi and the Brotherhood “realize the gravity of the situation, and realize, in a self-interested way, that they have lost many people who supported them previously, including many who held their noses and voted for Morsi,” Mr. Shehata said, adding, “Will Morsi and the F.J.P. make serious concessions, including vesting the opposition in the process?” Then on Thursday, a group of young revolutionaries managed to organize a meeting between opposition leaders and representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood. The meeting did not result in any breakthroughs, but the simple act of putting the antagonists in the same room was seen as a step forward.
Even then, he said: “Will the people on the street, who aren’t following the instructions of the opposition, take the developments to heart and go home?” Those efforts appeared to come undone on Friday.
The violent turn was met with anger by some anti-government activists. On Twitter, one activist, Tarek Shalaby, wrote: “I always support facing the regime’s thugs, but this time, a bunch of idiots started attacking the police behind the gates for no reason.”
Shady el-Ghazali-Harb, a young organizer who helped guide the revolt against Hosni Mubarak two years ago, was on the scene with a gas mask draped around his neck. “As long as the demands of the people are not met, people will stay in the street, and no one can control this violence,” he said, arguing that the underlying issue was the Constitution’s failure to address the revolution’s goals — bread, freedom and social justice, as the familiar chant goes.

Mai Ayyad contributed reporting.

Mai Ayyad contributed reporting.