CAIRO
Salafist Nour party has decided to withdraw from the political process under the roadmap announced by the military last week in reaction to the killing of at least 35 people outside the Republican Gurads headquarters in the early hours of Monday.
“Nour Party withdraws completely from the political process under the so-called roadmap of Abdel Fatah Sisi,” said the party leader Younis Makhyoun on his Facebook page.
“(We) will not deal with Adly Mansour, the head of the constitution court – as interim president.”
The powerful army announced on Wednesday a roadmap under which elected president Mohammad Morsi was ousted and Mansour was sworn in as interim president.
Nour Party was part of the political forces that the army consulted with on the roadmap, and came out to support it.
Nader Bakkar, the Nour party assistant chairman for media, said the party was withdrawing from all negotiations in reaction to what he called the “Republican Guards massacre.”
“The party will not keep its silence over the Republican Guards massacre,” Bakkar tweeted.
“We all want to avoid any bloodshed, but the blood is being shed in daylight.”
The Egyptian Armed Forces asserted that one officer was killed and several soldiers were wounded in an attempt by “a terrorist group” to storm the Republican Guards headquarters in the early hours of Monday.
But the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) says at least 52 people were killed and hundreds wounded when fire was opened on protesters of ousted president Mohammad Morsi in front of Republican Guards Headquarters in Cairo.
"While people were performing morning prayer in front of Republican Guards Headquarters, security forces first threw tear gas bombs and then opened fire on protesters," claimed Mohammad al-Beltagi, a senior FJP leader.
Loyalists of Morsi have been camping outside the building where they think the deposed Islamists president was being held.
