Chaos continues in Egypt: President Mohamed Morsi's renunciation of the highly contested decree granting him almost unlimited powers was not enough to appease the protests. Indeed, the Prime Minister has decided to give the army police powers (including the possibility of making arrests), according to a decree that will be published tomorrow by the Official Gazette, but which the prime minister wanted to bring forward already today, in view of the opposing demonstrations scheduled for tomorrow.
"The Armed Forces", according to the decree, "must support the police service in full cooperation, in order to safeguard the security and protect the vital institutions of the state for a temporary period, until the announcement of the results of the constitutional referendum".
A constitutional referendum that finds more and more obstacles in its difficult path towards realization, with harsh protests from the opposition, which has boycotted the work of the Constituent Assembly, dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis.
The Islamist leader's move seems destined to throw fuel on the fire of the dispute, exacerbating the climate of tension in the country through the involvement of the military, one of the strongest and most influential realities in Egypt, which had tried up to now to remain neutral dispute between the two warring factions.
