The pro-Morsi National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy stressed in a Thursday press release that ousted president Mohamed Morsi is still the legitimate ruler of the country, describing his overthrow on Wednesday as a "military coup."
In the statement, the group also expressed their dismay and announced their rejection of violence against peaceful pro-Morsi protesters, and called on state institutions to ensure the safety of peaceful demonstrations.
According to the Muslim Brotherhood's Ikhwanweb news site, 23 Morsi supporters have died in violence in various locations in Egypt since the military leadership announced that Morsi was being forced to step down.
The alliance also expressed distress at the closure of Islamist television channels, which "goes against freedom of expression," along with the arbitrary arrests of politicians and media personnel from Islamist parties, and demanded their immediate release.
Shortly after the military announcement of the ouster of Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood-owned television channel Misr 25 went off air along with several other Islamist-run channels, including channels Hafez and Al-Nas. Some employees of the channels were arrested.
Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr was also taken off air on Thursday after its Cairo offices were stormed by Egyptian security forces. Several Al Jazeera staff were detained.
The alliance called for "peaceful protests on Friday in all of Egypt's provinces to denounce the military coup against legitimacy and in support of the legitimacy of President Morsi."
The alliance, officially launched last week, includes the moderate-Islamist Wasat Party, the Salafist Watan Party and Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya's Building and Development Party.
