CAIRO
The National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, the main support bloc of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, said it had never called for roadblocks or rioting during Thursday's protests marking the passage of one year since two deadly sit-in dispersals in Cairo and Giza.
"Our approach is peaceful; we reject any form of violence," alliance spokesman Khaled Said told Anadolu Agency, referring to accusations by Egyptian authorities that Morsi supporters had incited violence across the country on Thursday.
"We have not called for rioting, roadblocks or sabotage. Rather, we called on revolutionaries to use creative peacefulness in an effort to exhaust the Interior Ministry without resorting to violence," he added.
He also asserted that alliance supporters had no intention of storming Cairo's Tahrir and Rabaa al-Adawiya squares or Giza's Nahda Square.
"Egypt is our square; it is open for us to protest anywhere," he said.
Said went on to say that the bloc would continue its protests on Friday – and beyond – as part of activities planned to commemorate the hundreds of victims of last year's sit-in dispersals in Rabaa and Nahda squares.
Earlier in the day, sources with the pro-Morsi bloc said at least six demonstrators had been killed on Thursday when security forces broke up rallies marking last summer's bloody sit-in dispersals.
Interior Ministry officials were unavailable for comment, but police usually deny using live ammunition against demonstrators.
One police official, however, quoted by the state-run MENA news agency, accused Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group of "plotting to sabotage and damage public facilities after failing to mobilize for protests."
At least 63 Brotherhood members in seven Egyptian provinces were arrested on Thursday for allegedly committing "acts of rioting and violence," according to a security source.
Thursday's protests came in response to calls by the pro-Morsi National Alliance for an "uprising" against Egypt's military-backed government.
The protests come amid stepped-up deployments by Egyptian security forces on main streets and around vital facilities.
Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader who won Egypt's first free presidential election in 2012, was ousted by the military in July of last year following protests against his single year in office.
Former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, widely seen as the architect of Morsi's ouster and subsequent imprisonment, was declared the winner of presidential polls conducted in May.
By Islam Mosaad
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
