Update:
Egypt's news agency: Sheikh of Al Azhar, head of Coptic church and opposition leader Elbaradei to announce the political roadmap soon.
Original post:
Though not yet officially confirmed some kind of military coup is taken place in Egypt right now.
The military has taken over the state television studios but has yet to issue any statement. Allegedly a travel ban was issued against the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood and president Morsi is said to have been moved to the Ministry of Defense. While the opposition to Morsi is somewhat partying in the very well filled Tahrir Square pro-MB demonstrators are protesting around the University and some other places. The military has deployed infantry carriers and soldiers in riot control outfit throughout Cairo and other cities.
Throughout the day negotiations were held between the various parties. At a point the military had invited all parties to a talk and all but the Brotherhood's FDJ came. There was no news release about the meeting nor is there yet any release about the coup.
The ministry of the interior, which controls the police, had announced that it would cooperate with the army. Several ministers and governors have resigned. It seems that the Islamist are now up against everyone else.
The military had earlier announced that it does not want to stay in power but wants to reset the process towards a democratic, civilian ruled state with a new constitution, a new parliament and new presidential elections.
It is not only the economic situation and the seemingly fumbling of Morsi's government that brought many, many people into the streets to move against him, the cultural element may be just as big. A significant part of Egyptians do not want to live in a country that is under the strict Islamic rule the Muslim Brotherhood strives to implement.
This is where both sides part: Does winning the election give the Muslim Brotherhood a right to change the society into what they want or is winning the election a much smaller mandate to rule but within the confines of a common non-majoritarian society?
The Muslim Brotherhood view: Because they won the majority (of the minority that voted) they are allowed to rule and implement the state and society as they see fit. The current coup, based on significant public support, is to them an assault on a right they had gained by being elected. I recommend to read the above link to understand their thinking. Here just this one ominous excerpt that seems to announce violence:
You have heard much during the past 30 months about ikhwan excluding all others. I will not try to convince you otherwise today. Perhaps there will come a day when honest academics have the courage to examine the record.
Today only one thing matters. In this day and age no military coup can succeed in the face of sizeable popular force without considerable bloodshed. Who among you is ready to shoulder that blame?
Here is Issandr al-Amrani on the different understandings of "democracy" in Egypt:
The dilemma facing Egypt is that it's a limited, electoral democracy whereas many want it to be a republic. The difference being that in a republic the individual has guarantees in the context of a socio-political compact, whereas in a democracy the minority has little if any voice. Egypt is formally a republic, and has been since 1956, over several iterations of a compact […]. It might have turned into a more democratic republic after 2011 except the new social compact was left to elections. Because elections are not very accurate indicators of national sentiment (because of variety in electoral systems, the importance of electoral strategy, etc.) and the voting public has still mostly few lasting allegiances in post-revolution Egypt, this was always a bad idea. A lot of people have changed their mind.
However Egypt comes out of this crisis, hopefully a republican pact — hopefully based around a bill of rights — will form a more stable base for its political system.
The big question now is if the Muslim Brotherhood will adjust to the new situation and accept that it will have to give the voters another try. Or will it not accept, forgo the democratic path and turn to violence and terror to achive its aims.
Life for many Egyptians is already bad enough without additional violence, terror campaigns or civil war. Let us hope that Morsi and his friends understand that and can hold back their followers urge to gain full powers. Those al-Qaeda banners in pro-Morsi demonstrations (video) do not point to a better future. If he wants to rule Morsi should get rid of them.