The National Salvation Front denounced the interrogation of political activists alleged to have participated in Moqattam clashes last Friday, prompting the main opposition coalition to call for new protests Friday.
In a press conference held on Wednesday at the Democratic Front Party headquarters, NSF spokesperson Hussein Abdel Ghani blamed President Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood for the "shedding of Egyptian blood."
The prosecutor general issued an arrest warrant earlier in the week for five activists and Brotherhood opponents, accusing them of inciting violence and working against the state. They include Alaa Abdel Fattah, Ahmed Doma, Karim Ahmed Omar known as Karim al-Shaer, Hazem Abdel-Azim and Ahmed Eid Ghonimi known as Ahmed al-Sahafi.
Later political activist Nawara Negm was also summoned.
The five were also banned from leaving the country pending ongoing investigations.
The NSF said it would continue what it called “peaceful revolutionary work” and stressed the importance of achieving the revolution's goals.
Democratic Front Party chief Osama Ghazali Harb said the Muslim Brotherhood represents the "counter-revolution," adding that the group does not want to see the revolution's goals realized.
Meanwhile, Islamist leaders attacked opposition calls for new demonstrations, claiming their opponents used protests to spread chaos and try to bring down the government.
Osama Suleiman, a member Freedom and Justice Party's supreme body, accused the opposition of hiding what he described as "crimes against the Muslim Brotherhood last Friday in Moqattam," adding that activists are afraid of being justly prosecuted for violating Egyptian law.
“Those who refuse to be investigated know very well that they are offenders and fear punishment, so they evade being subjected to the law,” Suleiman told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Khaled el-Masri, a member of the Salafi Front's politburo, described opposition demonstrations as “unsuccessful and funded by [former regime] remnants.”
He confirmed that his organization had submitted several complaints to the prosecutor general and named individuals it believed are behind the violence, which include secular party leaders.
Alaa Aboul Nasr, secretary general of the Jama'a al-Islamiya’s Construction and Development Party, said mass protests against Morsy and the Brotherhood aim to delegitimize the administration.
He added that they are an attempt to convince people that there is a security void based on a foreign agenda to destabilize Egypt.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
