Egypt's opposition campaign accuses MB of attacking HQ

Egypt's opposition Rebel Campaign pointed fingers on Friday at the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group for torching its headquarters earlier in the day. Since the beginning of the campaign, we used to receive threats from MB members and Islamists, but we never imagined that they might threaten the lives of their fellow Egyptians," Eman al- Mahdi, Rebel Campaign spokesperson and central committee member, told Xinhua while inspecting the aftermath. The Rebel Campaign aims to force an early presidential election by gathering 15 million petitions to oust Islamist-oriented President Mohamed Morsi. They have got over 7 million signatures so far, according to campaign leaders. Unknown attackers threw Molotov cocktails at the office early on Friday. The fire, which caused limited damages to the petitions as well as some injuries, was contained by volunteers and activists who were at the site. "We hope security can bring the assailants as soon as possible, " al-Mahdi told Xinhua, adding that some videos of the assault will be aired later on. The campaign spokesperson pointed out that the threatening tone has begun to accelerate recently. "It seems that the popularity of the campaign has hurt the MB," she said. Rebel Campaign is calling for mass demonstrations by its supporters on June 30 to bring down Morsi, exactly one year after he was elected. In response, supporters of Morsi accused the campaign of being anti-democracy and called for "pro-president counter- demonstrations" on the same day. The country's main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front, condemned Friday's attack on Rebel Campaign's headquarters as "a criminal assault and a pretext for burning Egypt."