CAIRO // At least one person died in clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi yesterday as hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets throughout Egypt to demand that the president resign.
The Cairo headquarters of Mr Morsi's ruling Muslim Brotherhood was attacked by scores of protesters firing shotguns and throwing petrol bombs and rocks. The Brotherhood said the building's fortified perimeter had not been penetrated.
Several of the movement's provincial offices have been attacked in recent days, and opposition protesters were marching on the presidential palace last night.
Supporters of Mr Morsi were also on the streets for a third day of rallies in the biggest showdown in the country's troubled experience of democracy since Hosni Mubarak's resignation in February 2011.
Many of the several hundred thousand anti-Morsi protesters said they would not stop their demonstrations until he stepped down.
"I am not here because of laws or elections," Nehad El Ganzoury, 60, a grandmother from the Agouza neighbourhood of Cairo, said in Tahrir Square. "I am here for everyday people who are facing an even worse life than before. No electricity, no water, no bread, nothing. I am not insulting Mohammed Morsi as a man, but as a president he has failed us terribly."
Mr Morsi has insisted he will not resign, and his spokesman said yesterday that dialogue was "the only way through which we can reach an understanding".
"The presidency is open to a real and serious national dialogue," Ehab Fahmy said, and pointed to the protests as proof of freedom of expression.
Anti-Morsi protests also took place in the coastal city of Alexandria, the Nile Delta cities of Mansura, Menuf, Tanta and Mahalla, the canal cities of Suez and Port Said and in the president's hometown of Zagazig.
In the Nile city of Beni Suef, south of Cairo, one person died and more than two dozen were injured. At least nine people have been killed in clashes in the past week, including an American student stabbed while photographing protests in Alexandria, and hundreds injured. Three Muslim Brotherhood offices were torched in the Nile Delta.
Some of Mr Morsi's supporters yesterday carried sticks and makeshift shields that they said would be used to defend the "legitimacy" of the president.
The military sent four low-flying Apache attack helicopters over Tahrir Square in a show of force. Instead of ducking for cover, the crowds cheered, exemplifying a widely held belief that the country's generals would support them against the presidency. The military played a critical role in the 2011 uprising by refusing to crack down on protesters, escalating the pressure on Mubarak to step down.
Protesters in Tahrir Square, where fireworks were fired into the sky at midday above tens of thousands of people waving flags and signs calling on Mr Morsi to "Go out!", expressed no interest in anything other than the president's prompt resignation.
Accountant Abdel Nabi El Nahas, 58, said Mr Morsi "has proved himself a liar and an illegitimate president".
"We toppled one dictator and I won't leave Tahrir until we topple another," he said. "It won't be easy, but no one can hold on to power when the people are this angry."
On the other side of Cairo, near the Rabaa El Adaweya mosque, several thousand of Mr Morsi's supporters prepared for conflict. Young men performed drills and said they would not let anti-government protesters attack the presidential palace.
"I believe that there are some good people among the opposition, but there are bad people among them who go into the protests and stir up trouble," said Abdul Rahman Youssry, 18, a high school pupil from Alexandria who was among the volunteer security force.
Around him, men chanted "strength, determination, faith", while Brotherhood members sprayed mists of water to keep them cool under the beating sun.
Ahmed Gamal, 58, a teacher of the Quran, said the protesters against Mr Morsi had been misled.
"The opposition is against democracy," he said. "They don't want to see their own revolution realised."
His views reflected the Brotherhood's statements in recent weeks, which cast the opposition as trying to overthrow Egypt's first democratically elected president against the wishes of the vast majority.
The size of yesterday's demonstrations, estimated to have reached hundreds of thousands by nightfall, presented a stark rebuttal of those claims.
The protests were staged to coincide with the first anniversary of Mr Morsi's inauguration. A former official in the Muslim Brotherhood and an engineer, he narrowly won the election with 51.7 per cent of the vote thanks in some part to liberals who could not stomach the alternative, Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, who was seen as a vote against the 2011 "revolution".
Mr Morsi quickly lost that support after a series of unilateral decisions, including a rushed vote on a constitution that many saw as having been written with only Islamists in mind. He has also clashed with judges, claiming they were acting on behalf of a conspiracy by remnants of the Mubarak regime.
Adding fuel to the fire is the economy, which has deteriorated badly over the past year. The Egyptian pound has lost 15 per cent of its value against the US dollar, making food more costly. Petrol shortages and power cuts have become chronic.
Mr Morsi had campaigned on an Egyptian "renaissance" last year, promising a better quality of life for people who had suffered under 30 years of crony capitalism presided over by Mubarak.
In an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper on Saturday, Mr Morsi re-emphasised a pledge he made during a speech last week to allow a committee to review proposed amendments to the constitution.
"There is no room for any talk against this constitutional legitimacy," he said. "There can be demonstrations and people expressing their opinions. But what's critical in all this is the adoption and application of the constitution. This is the critical point."
bhope@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Jahd Khalil
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
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What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
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- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
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The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Major honours
ARSENAL
BARCELONA
- La Liga - 2013
- Copa del Rey - 2012
- Fifa Club World Cup - 2011
CHELSEA
- Premier League - 2015, 2017
- FA Cup - 2018
- League Cup - 2015
SPAIN
- World Cup - 2010
- European Championship - 2008, 2012
Cracks in the Wall
Ben White, Pluto Press
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
