Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi acknowledged that “Political Islam” is the “route of instability “in his country in particular – and across the Middle East at large. In response to a reporter’s question, the Egyptian leader insisted that ‘so long as political Islam exists, the region will remain in a state of instability. According to Abdel Fatah al-Sisi: “There have been efforts that have been put forth for many years to make sure that political Islam is having a role on the political arena and consequently, this part of the world (Middle East) will remain in a state of instability as long as political Islam exists. But I want you to rest assure that especially in Egypt, the public opinion and the people themselves, are refusing this kind of political Islam to rule the homeland.”
The Egyptian President’s statement follows several small protests that erupted in Cairo over the weekend, during which Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers called for an end of his reign. The few hundred youth who demonstrated were quickly dispersed by Egyptian Security Forces, who exercised crowd-dispersal means.