Egyptian interim president Adly Mansour vowed on Thursday to battle for security “to the end” as the country’s army warned against violence during rival rallies which will take place on Friday.
Egyptian interim president Adly Mansour vowed on Thursday to battle for security “to the end” as the country’s army warned against violence during rival rallies which will take place on Friday.
"We are at a decisive moment in Egypt's history, which some want to steer into the unknown," Mansour, installed as interim leader by the military after president Mohammad Mursi's overthrow on July 3, said in a televised address.
"We will fight the battle for security to the end. We will preserve the revolution," said Mansour, who was a top judge before becoming president.
Mansour again offered an olive branch to Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.
But he also pledged "transitional justice," amid calls for the prosecution of Mursi and a crackdown on the Islamists.
"The framework of justice and reconciliation extends to all," he said.
On the other hand, both Brotherhood and anti-Mursi movements called for protests on Friday, prompting the military to issue a stern warning.
"The armed forces warn against any deviation from peaceful expressions of opinion, and the resort to violence," it said in a statement on its Facebook page.
"Whoever resorts to violence in Friday's protests will endanger his life, and will be treated with utmost decisiveness, within legal bounds," the statement added.
The Brotherhood has refused to recognize Mansour's government, instead placing its hopes in sustained protests it believes may reverse the coup that toppled the elected president after nationwide demonstrations against him.
Although mostly peaceful, Brotherhood rallies have led to clashes that have killed dozens of people since Mursi's ouster.
Meanwhile, military deployed reinforcements to the restive Sinai peninsula, where suspected militants killed a policeman on Thursday.
Several policemen and soldiers have been killed in drive-by shootings and rocket attacks since Mursi's overthrow.
