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Egypt's military gives politicians a 48-hour ultimatum
NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
By F. Brinley Bruton and Ian Johnston, NBC News
Protesters attacked and stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, calling for Egypt's president Mohammed Morsi to step down
Egypt’s military on Monday gave the country's political parties an ultimatum to hold a meeting within 48 hours after 16 people were killed during mass protests against the government of President Mohammed Morsi.
In a statement read on state television, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said if this deadline was not met it would issue a road map to end the crisis.
Al-Sisi called the protests against Morsi an "unprecedented" expression of the popular will.
As the armed forces statement was issued, President Barack Obama urged all sides to refrain from violence shortly after he arrived in Tanzania.
Early Monday anti-government protesters ransacked the headquarters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.
That followed a day of violence that left at least 16 people dead and more than 700 injured in protests throughout the country.
The attack on the Brotherhood building was bloodiest incident of the weekend's huge and mostly peaceful protests against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
It began after dark Sunday and continued for hours, with guards inside the suburban Cairo building firing on youths hurling fire bombs and rocks. Reuters cited medical and security sources as saying that eight people were killed but the figure could not be independently confirmed by NBC News.
Protesters breached the Cairo compound's defenses and stormed the building. Crowds later carried off furniture, files, rugs, air conditioning units and portraits of Morsi, according to an Associated Press journalist. One protester emerged with a pistol and handed it over to a policeman outside.
Footage on local television showed broken windows, blackened walls and smoke coming out of the building. A fire was still raging on one floor hours after the building was invaded. One protester tore down the Muslim Brotherhood sign from the building's front wall, while another hoisted Egypt's red, black and white flag out an upper-story window and waved it in the air in triumph.
The images were reminiscent of the destruction of the state security headquarters when Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011.
A spokesman for the Brotherhood said it would be demanding answers from security officials who failed to protect it. He said two of those inside were injured before a security detail from the movement was able to evacuate all those inside the compound in mid-morning.
Organizers behind Sunday's protests -- who managed to get 22 million signatures calling on Morsi to step down -- said they would give him until Tuesday at 5 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) to meet their demands otherwise they would call for nationwide strikes.
Khaled Desouki / AFP - Getty Images
Egyptian men carry items looted from the burnt headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo on Monday.
Protesters also demanded early elections, but late on Sunday night word from the presidential palace was that Morsi had no intentions of calling them.
Some anti-Morsi protesters spent Sunday night in dozens of tents pitched in the capital's central Tahrir Square and in front of the president's Ittihadiya Palace.
They have vowed to stay there until Morsi resigns. Morsi supporters, meanwhile, went on with their sit-in in front of a major mosque in Cairo.
Sunday's protests were the largest seen in Egypt in the 2½ years of turmoil since the ouster of autocratic Mubarak in February 2011.
NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
By F. Brinley Bruton and Ian Johnston, NBC News
Protesters attacked and stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, calling for Egypt's president Mohammed Morsi to step down
Egypt’s military on Monday gave the country's political parties an ultimatum to hold a meeting within 48 hours after 16 people were killed during mass protests against the government of President Mohammed Morsi.
In a statement read on state television, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said if this deadline was not met it would issue a road map to end the crisis.
Al-Sisi called the protests against Morsi an "unprecedented" expression of the popular will.
As the armed forces statement was issued, President Barack Obama urged all sides to refrain from violence shortly after he arrived in Tanzania.
Early Monday anti-government protesters ransacked the headquarters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.
That followed a day of violence that left at least 16 people dead and more than 700 injured in protests throughout the country.
The attack on the Brotherhood building was bloodiest incident of the weekend's huge and mostly peaceful protests against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
It began after dark Sunday and continued for hours, with guards inside the suburban Cairo building firing on youths hurling fire bombs and rocks. Reuters cited medical and security sources as saying that eight people were killed but the figure could not be independently confirmed by NBC News.
Protesters breached the Cairo compound's defenses and stormed the building. Crowds later carried off furniture, files, rugs, air conditioning units and portraits of Morsi, according to an Associated Press journalist. One protester emerged with a pistol and handed it over to a policeman outside.
Footage on local television showed broken windows, blackened walls and smoke coming out of the building. A fire was still raging on one floor hours after the building was invaded. One protester tore down the Muslim Brotherhood sign from the building's front wall, while another hoisted Egypt's red, black and white flag out an upper-story window and waved it in the air in triumph.
The images were reminiscent of the destruction of the state security headquarters when Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011.
A spokesman for the Brotherhood said it would be demanding answers from security officials who failed to protect it. He said two of those inside were injured before a security detail from the movement was able to evacuate all those inside the compound in mid-morning.
Organizers behind Sunday's protests -- who managed to get 22 million signatures calling on Morsi to step down -- said they would give him until Tuesday at 5 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) to meet their demands otherwise they would call for nationwide strikes.
Khaled Desouki / AFP - Getty Images
Egyptian men carry items looted from the burnt headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo on Monday.
Protesters also demanded early elections, but late on Sunday night word from the presidential palace was that Morsi had no intentions of calling them.
Some anti-Morsi protesters spent Sunday night in dozens of tents pitched in the capital's central Tahrir Square and in front of the president's Ittihadiya Palace.
They have vowed to stay there until Morsi resigns. Morsi supporters, meanwhile, went on with their sit-in in front of a major mosque in Cairo.
Sunday's protests were the largest seen in Egypt in the 2½ years of turmoil since the ouster of autocratic Mubarak in February 2011.
