Egypt: Adli Mansour sworn in as interim president
Updated 17 minutes ago
PHOTO: Adli Mansour was sworn in as interim president (Egypt State TV)
Egypt's interim leader Adli Mansour has been sworn in one day after the dramatic overthrow of the nation's first democratically-elected president.
The chief justice, who has been sworn in as interim president, also took his oath of office as head of the constitutional court.
Mr Mansour replaces Mohammed Morsi as president and head of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
Speaking after his swearing in, Mr Mansour said he was proud to serve as interim president and called on Egyptians to end their "worship" of political leaders.
"The guarantee of the continuation of the revolution bears well for us in the future," he said.
"The worship of the ruler should end forever. All sacredness and protection that the weak bestow on leaders and rulers should end, we should stop or industry of making tyrants."
Mr Mansour promised elections and a democratic future for the Arab world's most populous nation.
"We look forward to holding presidential and parliamentary elections based on the people's genuine will, not a fraudulent one. This is the only way for a brighter future and a freer future and a more democratic one," he said.
"I salute the revolutionary people, the patient people of Egypt that has shown to the whole world that it will not kneel and bow, it will not be broken."
The military yesterday suspended the constitution and hand-picked Mr Mansour to lead an interim administration until fresh presidential elections.
Egypt's army overthrew and detained Mr Morsi on Wednesday in an abrupt end to the Islamist's first year in office following days of bloodshed and protests demanding his resignation.
Mr Morsi's defence minister, armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, announced the elected Islamist president's overthrow on state television as police began rounding up key Mr Morsi aides and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr Morsi and several leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood movement were being held at various locations by security services.
'Victory for the people'
Today's newspapers greeted Mr Morsi's overthrow as a triumph for Egyptians, even though the Brotherhood won several elections last year.
"Victory for the legitimacy of the people," declared the Al-Gomhuria state newspaper in its banner headline, printed over a photograph of hundreds of thousands of people crammed into Tahrir Square in Cairo.
The United Nations, the United States and other world powers have not condemned Mr Morsi's removal as a military coup. To do so might trigger sanctions.
Army intervention was backed by millions of Egyptians, including liberal leaders and religious figures who expect new elections under a revised set of rules.
But as calm returned to the streets of Cairo and other cities, Islamists feared a clampdown that revived memories of their sufferings under the old, military-backed regime led by Hosni Mubarak, himself toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.
At least 14 people were killed and hundreds wounded in street clashes, while television stations sympathetic to Mr Morsi were taken off air.
The fall of Egypt's first elected leader after the Arab uprisings of 2011 raised questions about the future of political Islam, which only lately seemed triumphant.
The army put combat troops and tanks on the streets around a gathering of hundreds of Morsi supporters in Cairo.
The military promised to keep order and Mr Morsi said there should be no violence.
