"The most glorious thing about June 30 is that it brought together
everyone without discrimination or division," he said. "I offer my
greetings to the revolutionary people of Egypt."
"I look forward to parliamentary and presidential elections held with
the genuine and authentic will of the people," Mansour said. "The youth
had the initiative and the noblest thing about this glorious event is
that it was an expression of the nation's conscience and an embodiment
of its hopes and ambitions. It was never a movement seeking to realize
special demands or personal interests."
The revolution, he said, must continue, so "we stop producing tyrants."
Mansour replaced Morsi, who was Egypt's first democratically elected
president but was overthrown by the military on Wednesday after a
tumultuous year in office. Morsi is under house arrest at an undisclosed
location.
The military, in a statement read by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi on Wednesday evening, also suspended the Islamist-drafted
constitution and called for new elections. Morsi has denounced the
action as a "full coup" by the generals.
Millions of anti-Morsi protesters around the country erupted in
celebrations after the televised announcement by the army chief on
Wednesday evening. Fireworks burst over crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square,
where men and women danced, shouting, "God is great" and "Long live
Egypt."
That fact that Egypt's interim president comes from the constitutional Court adds a symbolic sting to Morsi's ouster.
The Islamist leader and his Muslim Brotherhood backers had repeatedly
clashed with the judiciary while in power, accusing the judges of being
loyalists of former autocrat Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in a 2011
uprising, and saying they seek to undermine Egypt's shift to democratic
rule.
The judges, meanwhile, had repeatedly challenged the Brotherhood's
policies and what many in Egypt considered the group's march to power.
The constitutional Court dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament in
June last year, saying it was illegally elected.
Even with an interim leader now in place, Egypt remains on an uncertain
course following Morsi's ouster, and the possibility of further
confrontation still looms. Beyond the fears over violence, some
protesters are concerned whether an army-installed administration can
lead to real democracy.
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