Muslim Brotherhood calls to end protests, vandalism

Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref called for a stop to recent demonstrations and condemned acts of vandalism, according to a report in Ahram Online on Monday.

The organization released a statement saying, “The Muslim Brotherhood strongly condemns acts of vandalism and thuggery carried out by hired thugs against state and private property.”

In a sign that things may begin to calm slightly, the police ended their strike in Cairo and Giza on Monday, but threatened to go back on strike if Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim does not meet their demands, according to the Egypt Independent website.

A source also revealed that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was considering removing Prime Minister Hesham Qandil in order to form a national consensus government, according to the website.

In addition, Ahram Online reported on Sunday that Morsi would make efforts to reach out to the opposition to bring back some sense of stability to the country. Morsi would specifically focus on the National Salvation Front (NSF) and youth that are playing a large part in the tumultuous and widespread street protests.

Toppled president Hosni Mubarak, awaiting trial over his role in the deaths of protesters, reportedly said Monday that Egyptians should rally around Morsi and end violent protests.

According to AFP, Mubarak’s lawyer Farid a- Deeb said Mubarak told him that Morsi is the “elected president, people should rally around him.”

The 84-year-old was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the deaths of protesters during the 18-day uprising in 2011 that ended his three-decade reign.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that the IMF is not going to loan Egypt $4.8 billion anytime soon as analysts hold a pessimistic outlook for the country as inflation continues to increase at a worrying pace.

The report quoted Egypt’s statistical agency, which said on Sunday that urban inflation was up 8.2 percent in February year-on-year, up from January’s 6.3%.

Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal said on Monday that Qatar does not plan at this time on giving further financial aid to Egypt. Kamal was quoted as saying that his country had already given $5 billion to Egypt.

Reuters contributed to this report.