CAIRO
Egypt's Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi said Wednesday that the government will not retreat on dispersing sit-ins staged by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
"The decision to disperse the sit-ins is final and won't be reversed," al-Beblawi told a brief news conference.
Flanked by his two deputies Hossam Eissa and Ziad Bahaa Eddin, the premier said the government has declined to disperse the sit-ins in respect of the holy month of Ramadan and "to give a chance for all parties to reconsider the situation and reach a solution without any security intervention".
The premier, however, declined to give details on how the sit-ins will be dispersed.
Pro-Morsi demonstrators have staged round-the-clock sit-ins in the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in eastern Cairo and Nahda Square in Giza to defend his democratic legitimacy and demand his reinstatement.
The government has described the two sit-ins as a "threat" to national security and mandated the interior minister to take "all necessary measures" to disperse them.
Al-Beblawi accused the pro-Morsi demonstrators of being "non-peaceful".
"They have crossed all limits and continued to incite violence, block roads and traffic, use weapons and abuse children, actions which are all punishable under law," he said.
"The government is running impatience," al-Beblawi said, calling on the protesters – whose hands were not blood-stained – to quickly leave the sit-ins and pledged them "free lifts" to their homes.
The Egyptian premier warned against "dangerous escalation and incitement by Muslim Brotherhood leaders in a way that threatened social security".
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