Ahram Online
Tuesday 12 Mar 2013
Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie is heckled by young man while dining with family at Cairo's City Stars shopping centre
A young
Egyptian man, Karim Farghali, verbally attacked Muslim Brotherhood Supreme
Guide Mohamed Badie late on Monday as the latter was having dinner with his
family at a restaurant in the City Stars shopping mall in Cairo's Nasr City
district.
Recounting the
incident in a telephone interview with Egypt’s Dream II satellite television
station, Farghali claimed that the argument arose when he asked Badie
sarcastically: “Do you eat at an American restaurant because the US is backing
your stay in power?”
Farghali said
that he then told Badie: “Your end will be at our hands. Your days are few and
you [the Brotherhood] will go back to jail.”
According to
Farghali, Badie replied to him “provocatively,” saying: “God commissioned me
not to reply to the likes of you.”
The incident
sparked pandemonium in the area, with some mall patrons reportedly chanting
against Badie as he left the restaurant and walked through the mall. Farghali
denied claims that he had tried to assault Badie, asserting that his
differences with the Brotherhood leader were merely political.
"We are
well aware of who carries out assaults," Farghali added, in reference to
recent political violence.
Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref said it was the first time that the Supreme Guide had been attacked in such a manner.
According to Aref's account, Badie had replied: "If I'm the one who actually rules Egypt, then I agree with you: 'Down with the rule of the Supreme Guide'."
Aref said that Badie had attempted to talk with the angry man but that the latter had simply continued to repeat his chants against the Brotherhood leader.
Wahid Abdel-Meguid, spokesman for Egypt's Constituent Assembly (which drafted the country's recently-approved constitution) and currently a member of the opposition National Salvation Front umbrella group, condemned the incident and similar attacks on public figures.
"This growing public indignation is a reaction to the [government's] failure to contain the country's political malaise," Abdel-Meguid told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website on Tuesday.
Egypt has seen numerous demonstrations against the government since last summer, when Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi won the country's first-ever free presidential election.
Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref said it was the first time that the Supreme Guide had been attacked in such a manner.
According to Aref's account, Badie had replied: "If I'm the one who actually rules Egypt, then I agree with you: 'Down with the rule of the Supreme Guide'."
Aref said that Badie had attempted to talk with the angry man but that the latter had simply continued to repeat his chants against the Brotherhood leader.
Wahid Abdel-Meguid, spokesman for Egypt's Constituent Assembly (which drafted the country's recently-approved constitution) and currently a member of the opposition National Salvation Front umbrella group, condemned the incident and similar attacks on public figures.
"This growing public indignation is a reaction to the [government's] failure to contain the country's political malaise," Abdel-Meguid told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website on Tuesday.
Egypt has seen numerous demonstrations against the government since last summer, when Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi won the country's first-ever free presidential election.
*Photo courtesy of the Associated Press
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