Adli Mansour, the chief justice of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in on Thursday as the nation's new interim president, taking over hours after the military removed Mohammed Morsi the Associated Press reported. According to the military decree, Mansour will serve as Egypt's interim leader until a new president is elected, but a date for that vote has yet been set.
"The most glorious thing about June 30 is that it brought together everyone without discrimination or division," he said. "I offer my greetings to the revolutionary people of Egypt. I look forward to parliamentary and presidential elections held with the genuine and authentic will of the people. The youth had the initiative and the noblest thing about this glorious event is that it was an expression of the nation's conscience and an embodiment of its hopes and ambitions. It was never a movement seeking to realize special demands or personal interests."
After Morsi was driven from power on Wednesday, after only one year in office, and country-wide protests calling for his ouster, the military also suspended the Islamist-drafted constitution and called for new elections. Morsi is under house arrest at an undisclosed location. He has denounced his overthrow as a 'full coup' by the generals.
Fireworks burst over throngs of people in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday evening, as men and woman danced and shouted, "Long Live Egypt."
The Constitutional Court dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament in June last year, saying it was illegally elected. With a new military led government, Egypt remains on an uncertain course with the possibility of further confrontation between protesters and the newly installed interim government.
