By McClatchy Newspapers

Published: Tuesday, January 29, 2013, 8:02 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, January 29, 2013

CAIRO — Declaring that ongoing street protests could lead to the “collapse of the state,” Egypt's top military general warned on Tuesday that if opponents of President Mohamed Morsy continue to paralyze the country through demonstrations, the military might have to intervene to defend the government.

It was the first time that Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the commander of Egypt's military forces and the country's defense minister, had commented publicly on the unrest that in six days has left at least 60 dead across the country. He did not specify what might trigger wider military intervention, what that intervention might look like or whom he blamed for the unrest.

But he defended Morsy's imposition over the weekend of emergency rule in three provinces after rioting broke out over a court ruling in a controversial criminal case, and he said the army's deployment in those provinces “only aims to protect the vital and strategic goals of the state.”

The protests, el-Sissi said in a speech to military cadets that was distributed as a statement, jeopardized everyone.

“The continuation of the conflict between the different political forces and their differences over how the country should be run could lead to the collapse of the state and threaten future generations,” el-Sissi said.

El-Sissi's remarks did not immediately seem to discourage expressions of dissent in the three provinces where Morsy also had ordered a 9 p.m. curfew for 30 days. In Suez, large demonstrations formed to mark the start of the curfew. In Port Said, where weekend violence claimed as many as 50 lives, residents launched fireworks in a spirited, festive form of disobedience. And a state news station showed young men in Ismailiya playing soccer in the streets Tuesday night.

In Cairo, which is not under curfew, protesters clashed with security forces, though for the first time in six days of violence no one died.

Just who could stop frustrated Egyptians from taking to the streets was unclear. The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, is splintered and has no more control over the protesters than do the police forces, who have countered rock-throwing demonstrators with tear gas and live fire.

Despite el-Sissi's warning, soldiers deployed in front of government buildings Tuesday night did not use their newly acquired powers to arrest civilians as curfew breakers.

Egypt is facing a myriad of problems stemming largely from the persistent instability that now defines the nation, from a failing economy to political divisions. Violent protests have erupted almost daily for the past two months.

The military, while credited with toppling deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak two years ago, has shown itself unwilling to pressure Morsy during the last two months.

1. ‘Joke’ prompts British jets to divert airliner carrying 300 from Pakistan
2. 2 arrested after UK fighter jet scrambles to divert civilian plane
3. Man who allegedly hacked soldier to death in London identified as Muslim convert
4. Afghan women’s rights suffer setback
5. Egyptian troops mistakenly hit funeral
6. Syria’s civil war combat spilling into Lebanon
7. Venezuela’s military sent into high-crime slums
8. Indian circuses fight for life
9. Bombs shred Sunni areas, killing 76
10. Algerian transition concerns U.S.
11. Syria’s Assad says he’ll ‘face storm’

There are currently no comments for this story.
Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.