Excitement in Tahrir, tears in Rabaa, Nahda squares

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians in Tahrir square broke into jubilation and cheers immediately after Defense Minister Abdel Fatah El Sisi announced the head of the constitutional court as the new interim president of Egypt, while supporters of President Mohammad Morsi broke into tears. Firearms lit the sky over Tahrir and people were holding hands and chanting “The people and the army hand in hand.” Many of the protestors carried pictures of Sisi, who has announced temporarily suspending the constitution and forming a coalition government of technocrats. He said the roadmap stipulates holding early presidential elections and formatting of a high committee for national reconciliation. Morsi has dismissed the announcements made by Sisi as a “military coup”. He urged the people to abide by the constitution and law and not to accept what happened, insisting he was still the president and the supreme leader of the armed forces. Many of Morsi loyalists assembling in the Nahda Square in Giza immediately broke into tears after the army announcement. They blasted Sisi and accused the army of siding with one camp against the other. The reaction in Rabaa Al Adawia square in Cairo was not much different. Morsi supporters said they would not leave the squares where they have been camping for days in a show of support for him.