CAIRO
The resignations of ministers, governors and lawmakers, and the besieging of state institutions by protestors are blocking the functions of the state in Egypt.
Six ministers have already tendered their resignations in protest at the “failure of the authorities” to respond to the demands of hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets nationwide demanding early presidential elections.
Morsi’s own two spokesmen and an adviser for military affairs, former army chief of staff Sami Anan, have also quit their posts.
Scores of policemen have joined anti-Morsi protests since Sunday, with the Muslim Brotherhood accusing some police forces of participating in attacks on its offices.
The Interior Ministry has issued a statement saying police will side with the army for the interests of national security and interests of the Egyptian people.
The military establishment on Monday issued a 48-hour ultimatum for all parties concerned to find a solution to the political crisis or else it would intervene to propose and supervise the implementation its own roadmap for Egypt’s future.
Protestors have damaged many state institutions by surrounding dozens of government premises and offices in several cities, preventing civil servants from going to work.
Many of the governors, who have not resigned, are unable to work because of demonstrations outside their offices.
A ruling by the Court of Cassation earlier today invalidated Morsi’s appointment of prosecutor general Talaat Ibrahim.
The high-respected Al-Azhar and the Coptic Orthodox Church, which enjoy a spiritual clout over the majority of Egyptian Christians, are by many as siding with the opposition against Morsi and his regime.
Twenty four lawmakers from the Shura Council, Egypt’s upper house of parliament, have resigned, amid pressures on independent MPs and the Salafi Al-Nour party, the second biggest bloc in the assembly, to follow suit.
If one third of the Shura Council’s 270 members quit, the legislature immediately becomes invalid, creating a legislative vacuum.
By Muhammed Sabry Emam Muhammed and Ayman Qenawi - Anadolu Agency in Cairo
