STERN WARNING

Egypt’s Army Threatens Protest Intervention

To keep country from sliding into chaos.

The Egyptian military is prepared to intervene in a pre-planned mass protest against controversial Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Sunday. The general, who was talking to officers during a seminar, laid out criteria for military intervention, including sectarian violence and the collapse of state institutions. The protests are slated for June 30, which will mark the end of the democratically elected Morsi's first year in office. El-Sissi warned Morsi's hardline backers, some of whom have vowed to "smash" the protesters, that the military will not stand by to let Egypt enter a “dark tunnel of conflict [and] internal fighting.”