Military Kicks Out Egyptian President Morsi

THE head of Egypt's army says President Mohamed Morsi has been overthrown as he presented a road map on a way forward for the country.

Egypt's military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi says Mr Morsi will be replaced by chief justice of constitutional court.

It is unclear where Mr Morsi is at the moment.

The news was meet by triumphant cheers by thousands of people waving flags in Tahrir Square.

Mr Morsi had remained defiant and earlier released a statement saying he would not go.

The Egyptian military was reported to have ordered a travel ban on Mr Morsi and members of his Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Egyptian media reported that officials at the Cairo airport were told to block prominent Brotherhood officials from leaving the country.

CNN correspondent Ivan Watson tweets a picture of Egyptian soldiers praying on the Jemaa bridge across the nile River at sunset in Cairo.

However two top Brotherhood officials told the Washington Post that rumours that Mr Morsi and his aides had been put under house arrest or barred from leaving the country were incorrect.

"This is not true. This is all empty talk,” said Abdullah Shehata, a prominent Brotherhood member. "Everything is fine."

In a statement, Mr Morsi warns that his electoral legitimacy is the only safeguard against violence and instability. He said it was a mistake to "take sides.''

"The presidency envisions the formation of a consensus coalition government to oversee the next parliamentary election,'' Mr Morsi's office said on Facebook.

Mr Morsi's statement came shortly before the 5pm (1am AEST) expiry of a military ultimatum for him to meet the demands of millions of protesters calling for his ouster or the army will intervene to oversee its own political road map to end the crisis.

By 6:30pm military forces began moving around Cairo. Tanks and troops headed for the presidential palace - although it was unclear whether Mr Morsi was inside

Egyptian children hold national flags as they pose for pictures near army soldiers on an armoured personnel carrier (APC) in a Cairo street.

The Egyptian military deployed armoured vehicles near Cairo demonstrations by supporters of Mr Morsi.

Dozens of armoured personnel carriers headed towards Cairo University where thousands of Mr Morsi's supporters massed, vowing to defend his legitimacy.

The official MENA news agency, citing a senior military official, said the armoured carriers were also deployed in the capital's Heliopolis and Nasr City neighbourhoods, where other protests were being held.

Tens of thousands of people massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square for an anti-Morsi protest.

"We do ... remain very concerned about what we're seeing on the ground," the US State Department said in a briefing.

Egypt's leading democracy advocate and top Muslim and Coptic Christian clerics met with the army chief to discuss a political road map for the country.

A military helicopter files over the presidential palace as opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi protest in Cairo, Egypt.

The meeting signalled the military was taking concrete moves toward implementing its plan to replace Mr Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader who came to office a year ago.

Under a plan leaked to state media, a new interim leadership would be installed, the Islamist-backed constitution suspended and the Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved.

The military has said it will implement its plan once its two-day ultimatum to Mr Morsi expired, which happened at 5pm (1am AEST).

Opposition spokesman Khaled Dwoud announced the meeting in a live telephone interview with state television.

Mohamed ElBaradei is the leader of the main opposition grouping, the National Salvation Front.

He was accompanied in the meeting with army chief General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi by Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar mosque, and Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.

CairoScene.com tweets a picture of the army deploying in Giza. Picture: Twitter

It came as Egypt's military moved to tighten its control on key institutions, even putting officers in the newsroom of state TV, in preparation for an almost certain push to remove Mr Morsi.

Mr Morsi has vowed not to step down in the face of millions of protesters in the streets in the biggest anti-government rallies the country has seen.

His Islamist supporters have vowed to resist what they call a coup against democracy, and have also taken to the streets by the tens of thousands. At least 39 people have been killed in clashes since Sunday.

The military beefed up its presence inside the mammoth headquarters of state television on the banks of the Nile River in central Cairo. Crack troops were deployed in news-production areas.

Officers from the army's media department moved inside the newsroom and were monitoring output, though not yet interfering, staffers said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk about the arrangements.

The state TV is run by the information minister, a Muslim Brotherhood member put in the post by Mr Morsi, and its coverage had largely been in favour of the government. But already in the past two days, the coverage saw a marked shift, with more balanced reporting showing the anti-Morsi protests along with pro-Morsi ones. State radio has seen a similar shift.

An Egyptian man welcomes an army soldier upon his deployment on a street leading to Cairo University.

The authoritative, state-run Al-Ahram newspaper - which also seemed to be following a military line - reported that the military had placed several leaders of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood under surveillance and issued a foreign travel ban on the Islamist group's top leaders.

Under a plan leaked to state media, the military would install a new interim leadership, the Islamist-backed constitution suspended and the Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved.

The bloodshed, coupled with Mr Morsi's defiant speech, contributed the sense that both sides are ready to fight to the end.

In his emotional, 46-minute address aired live to the nation late on Tuesday, Mr Morsi accused loyalists of his ousted autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak of exploiting the wave of protests to topple his regime and thwart democracy.

"There is no substitute for legitimacy,'' said Mr Morsi, at times angrily raising his voice, thrusting his fist in the air and pounding the podium. He warned that electoral and constitutional legitimacy "is the only guarantee against violence.''

Opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans during a protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.

The statement showed that Mr Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood are prepared to run the risk of challenging the army. It also entrenches the lines of confrontation between his Islamist supporters and Egyptians angry over what they see as his efforts to impose control through the Brotherhood and his failures to deal with the country's multiple problems.

The Interior Ministry, in charge of the police, piled up the pressure on Mr Morsi on Wednesday. It pledged in a statement to stand by and protect the protesters against violence.

Mahmoud Badr, spokesman for Tamarod, or Rebel - the youth movement behind the latest wave of protests - called on anti-Morsi protesters to demonstrate outside three presidential palaces as well as the Cairo headquarters of the Republican Guard, an army branch tasked with protecting the president, his family and presidential palaces.

Mr Morsi is thought to have been working at the Republican Guard headquarters since the start of the protests.

Mr Badr also called on the army to place Mr Morsi under arrest for his alleged incitement to civil war.

"Today is the day of decisiveness,'' Mr Badr said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei is in meetings with the army to try and work a way through Egypt's political crisis.

Mr Morsi's opponents say he has lost his legitimacy through mistakes and power grabs and that their turnout on the streets over the past three days shows the nation has turned against him.

On Tuesday, millions of jubilant, chanting Morsi opponents again filled Cairo's historic Tahrir Square, as well as avenues adjacent to two presidential palaces in the capital, and main squares in cities nationwide. After Mr Morsi's speech, they erupted in indignation, banging metal fences to raise a din, some raising their shoes in the air in a show of contempt.

As reports came in that the military was deploying dozens of armoured vehicles near Islamist gatherings elsewhere in the capital, the anti-Morsi protesters frantically waved Egyptian flags in and around Tahrir Square.

"Egypt, Egypt'' and "Leave, Leave,'' they chanted outside the defence ministry building.

With broad grins, they sang patriotic songs they have become accustomed to hearing as the same tunes have been pumped out on state television in the weeks leading up to the crisis.

"Morsi deserves his end. He was the president of the Muslim Brotherhood, not of Egypt,'' said Cairo resident Amr Mohammed, who carried his 40-day-old daughter in his arms as he marched to the Ittihadiya presidential palace.

Opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans during a protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.

A group of housewives put a table in the street and handed out dates and free cups of water, as celebrations erupted when a television station reported that Mr Morsi had been placed under house arrest.

Upon hearing the rumour, one elderly man kneeled down on an Egyptian flag and said "Allahu Akbar'' (God is greatest).

That report proved unfounded.

Abdel Khalek Abo Risha, 56, who come to the protest from Tanta city in the Nile Delta, said: "I only expect Morsi to be toppled. No other options''.

Nehal Serry, a woman who helped to organise the refreshments, said: "This is for the sake of Egypt. We are celebrating that we are getting rid of Morsi''.

The president's supporters also moved out in increased marches in Cairo and other cities, and stepped up warnings that it will take bloodshed to dislodge him. While Mr Morsi has stuck to a stance that he is defending democracy in Egypt, many of his Islamist backers have presented the fight as one to protect Islam.

Opponents of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans during a protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.

On Monday, the military gave Mr Morsi an ultimatum to meet the protesters' demands within 48 hours. If not, the generals' plan would suspend the Islamist-backed constitution, dissolve the Islamist-dominated legislature and set up an interim administration headed by the country's chief justice, the state news agency reported.

The leaking of the military's so-called political "road map'' appeared aimed at adding pressure on Mr Morsi by showing the public and the international community that the military has a plan that does not involve a coup.

Fearing that Washington's most important Arab ally would descend into chaos, US officials said they are urging Mr Morsi to take immediate steps to address opposition grievances, telling the protesters to remain peaceful and reminding the army that a coup could have consequences for the massive American military aid package it receives. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

Mr Morsi's adviser Ayman Ali denied that the US asked Egypt to call early presidential elections and said consultations were continuing to reach national conciliation and resolve the crisis. He did not elaborate.

The army has insisted it has no intention to take power. But the reported road map showed it was ready to replace Mr Morsi and make a sweeping change in the ramshackle political structure that has evolved since Mubarak's fall in February 2011.

The constitution and domination of the legislature after elections held in late 2011-early 2012 are two of the Islamists' and Brotherhood's most valued victories - along with Mr Morsi's election last year.