A leading Muslim Brotherhood spokesman said Friday the group would die before giving in and ceding leadership of the ailing nation to the interim president who was appointed after Mohammed Morsi’s ouster.
“We have our own belief in the democratic system and we are willing to die for it,” Gehan El-Haddad, a spokesman for the group, in NBC. “We might end up on the streets facing military bullets tearing through our flesh but the Egyptian people will face a 60-year-cycle of a new military dictatorship that will rob their freedom with short-term promises.”
The spokesman went on to say: “Our children will suffer the consequences, not us. The military has to be pushed back into the barracks or the only alternative is killing.”
The Islamist group has led protests on Friday to show support for Mr. Morsi, thrown from office by the military a couple weeks ago.
“To every free Egyptian man and woman: Come out against the bloody military coup,” the Islamists said, in a statement reported by NBC. The Brotherhood also said the protests weren’t simply about Mr. Morsi – but rather about a democratic process that was mocked by military coup.
Mr. Morsi was the first freely elected president in the country.
SEE ALSO: Thousands rally for Egypt’s Mohammed Morsi: ‘Legitimacy or martyrdom’
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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