Egyptian military group responds to Islamist call

The Egyptian Front for the Defence of the Armed Forces has called on its members to "lay siege" on the ruling Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo. The military association, which has membership among war veterans, retired officers, football fans and anarchist group Black Bloc, issued its call for mass protest on Saturday. In a statement, the movement explained that it intends to protest in response to hard-line Islamist preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail's "poisonous" call for his followers, members of the Brotherhood and other Islamist organisations to demonstrate outside the Egyptian Media Production City (EMPC) on Sunday. Salafist preacher and al-Raya Party leader Abu Ismail has urged his followers on social media website Facebook to lay a "peaceful and legal seize" outside Gate 2 of the EMPC, to protest against "the corrupt media."