The military-backed provisional government of Egypt has declared the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist” group.
The interim government has blamed the MB for a deadly attack on a police HQ earlier this week.
The outlawed Islamist party’s candidate Mohammed Morsi won the first democratic election in Egyptian history in 2012 and was later overthrown by the military.
Thousands of its supporters, activists and members have been arrested in a brutal crackdown by the current regime.
MB leader speaking from London in exile, Ibrahim Munir vowed that protests would continue.
Crackdown
Deputy Prime Minister Hossam Eissa publicised the move, which will give the authorities more jurisdiction to hunt down the MB.
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He said that anyone who is affiliated to the group, financed it or promoted its activities would face severe punishment.
The decision was made in response to a suicide bombing of a police headquarters in Mansoura, in the Nile Delta, which killed 16 people and wounded more than 100 on Tuesday.
Mr Eissa said: “Egypt was horrified from north to south by the hideous crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood group. This was in context of dangerous escalation to violence against Egypt and Egyptians and a clear declaration by the Muslim Brotherhood group that it still knows nothing but violence.
“It’s not possible for Egypt the state nor Egypt the people to submit to the Muslim Brotherhood terrorism.”
He added that Egypt would notify Arab countries who had signed a 1998 anti-terrorism treaty of the decision.
The MB has denied any involvement in Tuesday’s attack, and an Al-Qaeda linked group has allegedly claimed responsibility.
“Protests will continue”
Mr Munir who is a member of MB’s guidance council, told AFP news agency that the government’s decision was “illegitimate” and said that the “protests will continue, certainly.”
MB supporters have been holding protests since Morsi’s government was toppled on 3 July following widespread anti-Brotherhood demonstrations which was instigated by secularists and anti-Brotherhood media outlets.
The veteran Islamist movement was banned by Egypt’s military junta in 1954, but registered as an NGO called the “Muslim Brotherhood Association” in March this year in response to a legal case bought by opponents who challenged its legal status.
The MB’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) was set up in 2011 after the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power.
Following Mr Morsi’s removal and the suspension of the “Islamist-friendly” 2012 constitution, the administrative court in Cairo and the Social Solidarity Ministry were delegated with the task of reviewing MB’s legal status.
In September, a ruling by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters outlawed MB itself, the NGO, as well as “any institution derived from or belonging to the Brotherhood” or “receiving financial support from it”.
