CAIRO – Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has ordered police forces to withdraw from the streets of the restive city of Port Said as the military stepped in to try to restore order following a second day of deadly violence. Egypt's Al-Shorouk newspaper quoted a military source as saying that the interior ministry forces were no longer capable of ensuring security in the city and that the army was asked to intervene. Al Arabiya TV broadcast footage of army officers attending the funeral of a protester who was shot dead by unknown gunmen. At times in the violence, frictions have arisen between the police that were battling protesters and army forces that tried to break up the fighting. Troops in between the two sides were overwhelmed by police tear gas, one army colonel was wounded by live fire, and troops even opened fire over the heads of police, bringing cheers from protesters. Three policemen and three civilians were killed in the fighting, and troops stood by as protesters torched a government complex Monday that contains the city's main police building. The scenes, following three weeks of strikes and protests in the city, have underlined a scenario that many in Egypt view with a mix of concern and relief – that the military may move back into politics, prompted by mushrooming protests, a breakdown in law and order and mounting challenges to Morsi. Some opponents of Morsi have outright called for the military to take power, and even those who say they oppose a military return have used the prospect to pressure Morsi to find some consensus in the country's political crisis. Prominent opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei warned of decaying state institutions and rising levels of violence. “The regime in its current form is unable to manage the country,” he wrote on his Twitter account. “There must be a radical review before it is too late.” Unable to halt the violence, both the police and military Monday sought to deny any tensions between them. Meanwhile, there was no official comment from the presidency following one of the worst flare-ups of violence since January. Unrest also spread in other parts of the country. In the capital, Cairo, protesters blocked the main thoroughfare along the Nile River, and police tried to clear them with volleys of tear gas. Other disgruntled young men set fire to two police cars in two different locations in Cairo, sending police fleeing the vehicles in the middle of traffic. The unrest in Egypt is reaching new heights, just weeks before the parliamentary elections scheduled next month, which have further enflamed an already tense political landscape. Opposition leaders are calling for a boycott of the elections, accusing Morsi of failing to seek consensus over critical issues, such as the drafting of the constitution and the elections law. Morsi opponents accuse him of working to lock his Muslim Brotherhood's hold on power. “How can elections be held with the tragic situation in Port Said and as martyrs are falling there and in other provinces,” former presidential candidate and leading opposition member Amr Moussa said in an email. “How can elections be held with security undermined everywhere in the nation.” Months of violence have prompted calls by some in the opposition for the military, which ruled for nearly 17 months after the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, to take back power and contain the discontent. – Agencies
