Younger generations of the Muslim Brotherhood favor violent means of protest against the government, adding to disagreements within the now-outlawed group’s leaderships who favor adherence to peaceful means, the Financial Times said Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, while a sector of the group sticks to a “anything but bullets” slogan implying that any form of sabotage short of opening fire is acceptable, others push for “the revolutionary path” with “all its mechanisms”, in a reference to violent means.
“We do not accept the revolution to go into a violent or armed struggle,” the Financial Times quoted Amr Darrag, a former minister in Mohamed Morsi’s government, as saying from his exile in Turkey.
It, however, highlighted comments by a recently-elected young group spokesperson calling himself Mohamed Montasser, who said that the group would maintain “the revolutionary path”.
Quoting analysts, the newspaper said say the Brotherhood’s younger members promoted to leading ranks last year fell indignant on the older leaderships’ style of opposition.
“They are furious not only at the harsh repression visited on their friends and colleagues but also at older leaders who preach a low-key response in order to preserve whatever remains of the group’s structures,” the Financial Times said.
According to the newspaper, “The fissure threatens to undermine the group’s internal cohesion, one of the main reasons for its near 90-year survival in Egypt’s unpredictable political environment.”
It stressed that escalation of violence from the Brotherhood’s side “could hand the authorities more ammunition in the battle for public opinion at home and abroad”.
