Egyptian army deployed to secure media city

Egyptian troops will be deployed to secure the Media Production City near the capital Cairo starting from Tuesday, an official source said, days ahead of the planned June 30 anti-president protests that are aimed to press for an early election. "Armored vehicles and infantry troops (from the Egyptian Central Military Zone) will be deployed to completely secure all entrances and exits of the city," the source was quoted by official news agency MENA as saying. The city has being besieged by Islamists several times over alleged charges that the media men were inciting the ordinary citizens against the ruling party. "We will protect this great media headquarters and its freedom of expression message," the source said. On Sunday, Egypt's Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said the army is obliged to interfere to prevent the country from sliding into a dark tunnel of conflicts and sectarian strife. A day later, the presidency, in a televised press conference, asserted the role of the armed forces in protecting national security, however, expressed reservation over the army's intervention to prevent possible clashes. Islamic-oriented groups in Egypt, which support the ruling party and President Mohamed Morsi, have called for massive peaceful protests on Friday to support the legitimacy of Morsi.