Egypt military chief urges end to violent protests, warns nation
threatened  McClatchy NewspapersJanuary 29, 2013   Mideast Egypt
Smoke rises after Egyptian protesters clash with police, unseen,
in Port Said, Egypt. on January 27.   — Declaring that ongoing
street protests could lead to the “collapse of the state,”
Egypt’s top military general warned Tuesday that if opponents of
President Mohammed Morsi continue to paralyze the country
through demonstrations, the military might have to intervene to
defend the government.  It was the first time that Gen. Abdel-
Fattah el-Sissi, the commander of Egypt’s military forces and
the country’s defense minister, had commented publicly on the
unrest that in six days has left at least 60 dead across the
country. He did not specify what might trigger wider military
intervention, what that intervention might look like, or whom he
blamed for the unrest.  But he defended Morsi’s imposition over
the weekend of emergency rule in three provinces after rioting
broke out over a c