Will Morsi turn over the American anti riot equipment to the Muslim Brotherhood?

With Morsi’s grip on power slipping, Muslim Brotherhood prepares a defense force

CAIRO — With police officers and soldiers increasingly turning on embattled Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, his Muslim Brotherhood-backed supporters are forming their own security force armed with sticks, helmets and Molotov cocktails.

Seas of protesters were expected back on the streets Tuesday, marking the third straight day of massive protests that have all but shut down the country, demanding that Morsi step down.

This time, though, the protesters will confront a counter force. The Brotherhood, the secretive organization through which Morsi ascended to power, held a midnight news conference and called followers to defend Morsi. Clashes immediately ensued in the Nile Delta between Morsi supporters and the police. And more are expected as the day unfolds.

Keeping their distance from the anti-Morsi protests, the Brotherhood forces were preparing days before Sunday’s protests marking Morsi’s one-year anniversary in office. In between chants, they lined up in formation, hoisting sticks, chair legs and two-by-fours.

They were prepared to secure Morsi’s legitimate place as Egypt’s leader, using an illegitimate security force.

“Strength, determination, faith, Morsi’s men are everywhere!!” they screamed while stomping their feet and doing air punches in the air. Overweight men in beards then dropped down and began doing push ups.

Tuesday, the tension was high as they waved their sticks in the air and stomped their feet in mock combat in front of the presidential palace, .

If they succeed in defending Morsi’s hold on the presidency, it’s unclear what Morsi would control if he could hold onto to power. On Monday, the military leadership, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, gave Morsi and his opponents 48 hours to outline a “road map” for reconciliation. If they don’t come to consensus, as the fractured opposition has said it would not participate it, the military said it would “intervene.”

On Tuesday, the courts ruled Morsi’s appointed prosecutor had to step down. Morsi’s spokesmen, Omar Amer and Ehab Fahmy, who nervously defended the state two days ago, also reportedly stepped down, as did the cabinet spokesman.

At least five ministers reportedly failed to show up at Tuesday morning’s cabinet meeting though the government said it was still considering their resignations.

“That the Brotherhood is ostensibly forming a militia reinforces the fact that Morsi has no control over the police and is increasingly the titular head of a failed state,” said Eric Trager, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington.

At the presidential palace Monday night, protesters hoisted uniformed officers on their shoulders, even as other protesters carried pictures of those killed by the police over the past two years. Police officers in civilian clothes suddenly announced that they were officers. Soldiers in a two-man concrete observation post attached to the palace walls quietly encouraged protesters to stay on the streets until Morsi stepped down.

“God be with you. Don’t leave until he leaves,” a 23-year-old soldier told McClatchy.

At the next guard shack a few yards away was old graffiti, “A donkey sits here,” with an arrow pointed upward at the tiny window where a soldier looked out, an outward display of Egypt’s complicated and at times, fickle relationship, with its military.

In a statement released early Tuesday, Morsi’s government said it had been unaware of the military’s plan to issue a 48-hour deadline, another signal that Morsi also had lost control of Defense Mnister Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, whom he’d had appointed in August. Morsi’s government said it would reject such a deadline and continue on its own plan of reconciliation.

After Morsi met with el-Sissi, the military released a second statement, insisting it was not interested in staging a coup.

But the damage had already been done. Huge swaths of this country celebrated as though Morsi’s downfall was inevitable. Thousands gathered around the country, honking their cars, chanting “Ir-hal” – the Arabic word for leave – all while shining green lasers at the military helicopters above, signaling their feelings of affection toward Egypt’s last remaining nationalist institution.

The military’s statement laid out its view of the situation, if not its solutions.

“The national security now is at serious risk because of the developments in the country. It is our responsibility to fend off those dangers,” the first statement read. “The armed forces had sensed earlier the seriousness of the current situation and the demands of the people. Therefore, it had given all political forces a week to agree and get out of the crises, but the week passed without any action or initiative, which made people take to the streets with persistence and insistence with their own freedom.”