The military would announce measures to end a political stalemate within 48 hours, Egypt's defence minister said Monday after protests and clashes between government supporters and opponents turned bloody, according to news agencies. Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi's statement came as thousands of people protested in Cairo's Tahrir Square and in front of the presidential palace in eastern Cairo, remaining there after Sunday's demonstrations, in which hundreds of thousands demanded the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi. Many protesters complained of increasing prices, fuel shortages, electricity cuts and a lack of security since Morsi took power a year ago. It also came a week after al-Sissi set a week's deadline for a consensus between Morsi's supporters and opponents. "Yet this week passed without any gesture or action, leading people to take to the streets with insistence and freedom," al-Sissi said. It was not clear from his statement how far the military was willing to go to reassert order in the country, which has been in a regular state of turmoil since the 2011 ouster of former president Hosny Mubarak.
