Indonesians In Egypt Warned Over Tension

Cairo, Egypt, July 2 (Antara) - Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, warns its citizen to be alert following the rising tension in the country. The tension was triggered by protest from thousands of local people last Sunday (June 30) towards President Mohamed Moursi`s government, official said. "We ask Indonesian citizens in Egypt to remain calm but still on alert over the recent tension," spokesman to the embassy Dahlia Kusuma Dewi said here on Tuesday. She explained although the embassy has released warning towards its citizen, the office will be open as usual. Currently there are about 5,000 Indonesians residing in Egypt. Most of them are students who not only live in Cairo but also other cities in Egypt. At least four were killed in Upper Egypt on Sunday during armed attacks on anti-president protests nationwide, while over 250 others were injured in the pro- and anti-president protests in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Daqahliya, Gharbiya, Minufiya, Beheira, Fayoum, Assiut and Beni Suef. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians flooded to the major squares in the country on the first anniversary of the Islamist-oriented president on Sunday to oust him and call for an early presidential election. In the biggest protests Egypt has witnessed since the 2011 upheaval that toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak, anti-Morsi protesters took to Tahrir Square and the vicinity of the presidential palace in Cairo as well as several squares in other governorates, while the pro-president protesters continued their sit-in for the third consecutive day at Rabia al-Adawiya Square in Cairo`s Nasr City "to defend legitimacy" of the first freely- elected president. Military helicopters have been seen flying over the heads of anti-Morsi protesters in Tahrir and near the presidential palace while the protesters were waving to hail them. Morsi`s opponents accuse him and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which the president hails, of attempting to control all the state` s institutions without leaving room for other political forces to share in the country`s decision making process. Meanwhile, the president`s supporters say he derives legitimacy from the ballot box as winner of the first free democratic elections in Egypt, asserting "legitimacy is a red line" and vowing to defend Morsi until death. On the other hand, hundreds of judges staged a protest outside the Supreme Courthouse in Cairo against what they called "an offensive launched by Morsi on the judiciary and the judges."