Top Morsi adviser: It’s a ‘military coup’

The armed forces are instigating a “military coup,” according to Morsi adviser Essam El Haddan, who is the president’s assistant for Foreign Relations and External Cooperation.

“As I write these lines I am fully aware that these may be the last lines I get to post on this page. For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: Military coup,” El Haddan wrote on his office’s official Facebook page.

In the lengthy statement, El Haddan said that he himself participated in the original 2011 Tahrir demonstrations, but the current round will delegitimize Egyptian democracy and lead to violence.

Warning of “considerable bloodshed,” El Haddan said that if the government falls, it will send a message that “democracy is not for Muslims.”

Morsi has offered considerable concessions to the protesters, who have some legitimate grievances, he said, but in a real democracy if the public is not satisfied with the government, “the president loses the next election or his party gets penalized in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Anything else is mob rule.”