Egypt’s Brotherhood vows to continue protest despite warning

Supporters of Mohammed Morsi attend a sit-in outside Rabaa al-Adawiya square Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi called more rallies for Sunday to demand his reinstatement, amid last ditch efforts for reconciliation ahead of a threatened crackdown on protests . The Anti-Coup Alliance said 10 marches would take off from various parts of the capital "to defend the electoral legitimacy" of Egypt's first freely elected president Morsi, ousted by the military on July 3.
His supporters, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, have kept up two huge protest camps in Cairo and said nothing short of his reinstatement will persuade them to disperse.
In the latest twist, activists at Rabaa al-Aadaweya Square threatened to move towards the central Tahrir Square if security officers used force to disperse them.
The call for fresh rallies comes as al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, called for reconciliation talks in the latest of a string of attempts to find a peaceful solution to the political deadlock.
Eyewitnesses told Arab Today that after dawn prayers on Sunday, the electricity was cut in ?the area of Rabaa al-Aadaweya.
Minister of Energy and Electricity, Ahmad Mostafa Emam Shaaban, denied that the electricity companies has been instructed to make life difficult for the anti-government protesters, adding that the companies are not involved in the political conflict.
In Nahda Square, dozens of protesters withdrew after news spread regarding forceful dispersing of the sit-in, while others moved inside the sit-in area in order to make the number of the protesters seemlarger.
“We are not afraid to die, and we are waiting for the police or military ?forces to kill us,”? a protester said to Arab Today.
Meanwhile, Salafist Nour Party official Khaled Alam el-Din has told Arab Today that party officials have opened talks with the Muslim Brotherhood urging it to bring an end to the protests, to prevent any potential bloodshed.
"The Brotherhood leaders refused to end the sit-ins and told Nour Party officials that they reject any initiatives," he said.
Al-Azhar's Grand Imam, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, is to begin contacts with political factions on Monday aimed at convincing them to sit down to talks later this week, state media reported.
"Al-Azhar has been studying all the proposals for reconciliation put forward by political and intellectual figures... to come up with a compromise formula for all Egyptians," Tayyeb's advisor, Mahmud Azab, told the state-owned al-Ahram.
Morsi's turbulent single year in power polarised Egyptians and his ouster by the military only deepened divisions.
The army-backed leadership is under immense pressure at home to crack down on the protests, and immense pressure from the international community to avoid bloodshed.
Senior US, EU and Arab envoys flew into Cairo in recent weeks to try to persuade the two sides to find a peaceful way out of the crisis.
However Egypt's interim President, Adly Mansour, declared that international efforts to resolve the political crisis had "not achieved the hoped-for results".
Mansour said he held the Muslim Brotherhood "completely responsible for the failure", as well as "consequent events and developments relating to violations of the law and endangering public safety".
The government has ordered police to end the pro-Morsi protests, which it described as a "national security threat."
"The government wants to give the protesters, especially the reasonable ones among them, a chance to reconcile and heed the voice of reason," interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi told state TV.
"The situation is approaching the moment we would rather avoid."
On Friday, Brotherhood leader Mohammed al-Beltagi warned the government: "Kill as much as you like. I won't move an inch… We will offer a million martyrs."The statements prompted new calls for restraint from the international community.
More than 250 people have been killed in clashes since Morsi's ouster by the military, following days of mass rallies demanding his resignation.