Egyptian authorities are considering disbanding the Muslim Brotherhood group, a government spokesman says, once again outlawing a group that held the pinnacle of government power just over a month earlier.
The announcement comes after security forces broke up two sit-in protests this week by those calling for the reinstatement of President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader deposed in a July 3 coup.
The clashes killed more than 600 people that day and sparked protests and violence that killed 173 people on Friday alone.
Cabinet spokesman Sherif Shawki said on Saturday said that Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, who leads the military-backed government, assigned the Ministry of Social Solidarity the task of studying the legal possibilities of dissolving the Muslim Brotherhood. He didn't elaborate.
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The group, founded in 1928, came to power a year ago when Morsi was elected in the country's first free presidential elections. The election came after the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising in 2011.
The fundamentalist group has been banned for most of its 80-year history and repeatedly subjected to crackdowns under Mubarak's rule. While sometimes tolerated and its leaders part of the political process, members regularly faced long bouts of imprisonment and arbitrary detentions.
Since Morsi was deposed in the popularly backed military coup, the Brotherhood stepped up its confrontation with the new leadership, holding sit-ins in two encampments for weeks, rallying thousands and vowing not to leave until Morsi is reinstated.
