The Muslim Brotherhood preemptively denied on Tuesday involvement in attacks “likely” to break out against opposition protesters at Tahrir Square and the presidential palace.
The Brotherhood released an official statement in which they claimed to have been “informed” that plans are being formulated to attack opposition protesters by assailants the group failed to identify. It added that those assailants would falsely attribute those “criminal” attacks to the Brotherhood.
“We hereby take the initiative to condemn these plans and attacks, should they take place,” the statement read. It added that the Brotherhood’s top priority was to “prevent Egyptian bloodshed.”
The statement quoted a verse of the Quran, stating: “If anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or [and] to spread mischief in the land, it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.”
“We strive to allow all Egyptians to live in an atmosphere of cooperation, righteousness and piety,” the statement read. “We work on helping the country develop… within a peacefully democratic atmosphere and in the context of a modern, civil, developed state… which steers clear of any violence, terrorism or killing.”
Supporters of President Mohamed Morsi from various Islamist groups marched to Cairo University Monday night in support of the president’s legitimacy. They remain camped around the university in Giza, amid another pro-Morsi sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adaweya in Nasr City, and two anti-Morsi sit-ins in Tahrir Square and outside the presidential palace in the capital.
