Calm Prevails İn Egypt Ahead Of Islamists' Protests

Calm reigned in Egypt in the early hours of Friday ahead of planned protests by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi for staging an "Islamic revolution".



Egypt's Salafist Front – a subcomponent of Morsi's main support bloc – called for an "Islamic revolution" on November 28 with the aim of ending "military rule" and maintaining "Egypt's [Islamic] identity."



The call for Friday protests has alarmed Egypt's security agencies, which have warned of potential violence by demonstrators.



Scores of protesters staged a brief rally in eastern Cairo's Nasr City neighborhood amid calls against the military. Similar rallies were also staged in several provinces as Kafr al-Sheikh, Menoufiya, Sharqiya and Gharbiya in the Nile Delta and the canal cities of Suez and Ismailia.



The Interior Ministry said that seven explosive charges had been defused Friday morning in four provinces.



"Security forces have detained 103 members of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group who were planning acts of violence in different provinces," ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said.



But a source in the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, Morsi's support bloc, has put the number of detainees at 113.



Egyptian authorities have threatened to use live ammunition against anyone who attacks state institutions during the protests.



The country's overwhelmingly pro-army media had been speaking of impending violence as such calls for an "Islamic revolution" had never been made explicitly in Egypt.



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire