Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi attend a funeral for two people killed in recent clashes at Rabaa Adawiya Square, where they are camping in Nasr city area, east of Cairo (Photo: Reuters)
Secret negotiations have started between the Egyptian state and the Muslim Brotherhood to avoid an escalation in Egypt’s current political crisis, according to mediators involved in the negotiations as reported by Ahram's Arabic website today.
The Egyptian cabinet on Wednesday announced it had authorised the interior ministry to disperse sit-ins in Giza and Cairo’s Nasr City by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood subsequently announced plans to hold 33 marches around Cairo and Giza on Friday under the slogan ‘Egypt against the coup.’
According to a report on Ahram’s Arabic website posted today, communication between the Muslim Brotherhood and state apparatuses started late on Thursday and continued into Friday morning with the aim of avoiding escalation and bloodshed.
According to the report, negotiators pressed both sides to reach a deal in order to 'avoid bloodshed' and possible clashes between pro-Brotherhood protesters and the army and police.
The Brotherhood representatives called on the state to release some of the organisation’s leading figures who are currently detained, as a goodwill move. The state for its part called on the Brotherhood to cease promoting hate speech and discourse about war and martyrdom at the Nasr City sit-in and to cease its spontaneous protests.
The state also asked the Brotherhood to let health ministry personnel and ambulances into the two sit-ins, and to allow the police to secure the sit-ins in place of armed protesters.
Ahram Arabic also reports via its unnamed sources that a public reconciliation initiative will be launched on Friday, if the day ends without bloodshed.
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