Security source: Pro-Morsi sit-ins to be dispersed early Monday

A security source inside the Interior Ministry has said sit-ins at Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda Square will be dispersed early on Monday, state run paper Al-Ahram reported, adding that Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim met Sunday with several of his aides who agreed on the deadline.

During the meeting, the interior minister presented security reports detailing numbers of protesters, types of weapons possessed, and the number of women and children in the sit-ins, the paper reported.

Security forces taking action against the sit-ins will be provided with armored vehicles, bulletproof shields, and devices to remotely detect explosives, it said.

The security source was quoted as saying that a siege will be imposed on the pro-Morsi camps, whereby food and drink will be barred from entering, and that warnings will be issued to the protesters to clear the area, after which security forces will use water canons, then sound guns.

All entry points to the sit-ins will be sealed off, the paper reported, leaving just one access point for women and children and two for men.

The Interior Ministry, the security source said, is keen on preventing bloodshed during the dispersal and will urge all protesters to leave peacefully.

The Egyptian presidency announced last Wednesday that international mediation efforts to find a solution to the current political impasse have failed.

US, European, and Qatari officials had been in Egypt attempting to broker an agreement between the Muslim Brotherhood and the interim government installed following the removal of President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.

Morsi supporters, who have been staging the two sit-ins in Cairo since the end of June, are refusing to disperse unless certain key demands are met, at the top of which is Morsi’s reinstatement. The Cabinet last week instructed the Interior Ministry to “use all legal means” to deal with the sit-ins.

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