Egypt ‘on the edge of abyss’
Egyptian firefighters battle flames at the Giza governorate buildings that were stormed and torched by angry supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013.
CAIRO – With astonishing speed, Egypt has moved from a nation in crisis to a nation in real danger of slipping into a prolonged bout of violence or even civil war.
Egypt has become increasingly polarized since the Islamists rose to power following the 2011 revolution that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Fault lines touching key and potentially explosive issues like identity, the rights of Christians and other minorities, and democratic values have never been more prevalent.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its hard-line allies stand at one end of a bitter standoff with secularists, liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians.
That schism grew after President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, was ousted in a July 3 military coup. But it was Wednesday’s deadly police raids – with armored bulldozers and security forces plowing through two protest camps – that will be remembered as a turning point when what had been primarily a political standoff erupted into bloodshed. Read more.
Do you think civil war in Egypt is likely?
