Prime minister threatens force against the sit-ins

Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi has called on protesters in the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Rabea al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda Squares to return to their homes and offered to provide them with means of transport to do so.

Beblawi added in a press conference on Wednesday that the government’s patience is reaching its limits, and the Cabinet is warning against any breaches of the peace. He stressed that the use of arms whether against police or civilians would be met with unforgiving force.

Earlier on Wednesday, the presidency announced that all diplomatic efforts to reach a political solution for the current crisis have failed, signalling a greater chance of the use of force to disperse the sit-ins called for the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Morsi.

A security source confirmed to privately-owned Al-Watan newspaper that the Ministry of the Interior is ready to start implementing a plan to disperse the sit-ins “in accordance with law” and is just waiting for the sign to proceed. The source told the newspaper that this would probably take place before the Eid holidays come to an end. The holidays are expected to start on Thursday and end on Sunday.

The ministry has already prepared for the dispersal, according to the source who spoke with Al-Watan, and has established more then 13 security checkpoints in the streets leading to the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in and seven in the parameter of the Al-Nahda sit-in. The checkpoints will seeks to control and decrease the arrivals at the sit-in, as well as prevent smuggling weapons to the protesters.

Central Security Forces from different parts of Egypt have been called upon to support the forces that will besiege the sit-ins the source said, adding that the forces are being equipped with a number of new bullet-proof and fire-proof armored vehicles which will be used to storm the sit-ins. Live ammunition would only be used, he said, if the forces are shot at.

Although the source predicts a large loss of life, attributing this to the large amounts of weapons that protesters have, he said the spirits of the officers and their forces are very high and they are read to disperse the sit-ins.