Egypt’s ruling party says coup under way

Egypt’s ruling Freedom and Justice Party has said that “a full military coup” was under way to remove President Mohamed Morsi from power, after an army deadline urging him to meet the protesters’ demands expired.

Gehad El-Haddad, a spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood and senior adviser to the Freedom and Justice Party, said on Wednesday that armoured personnel carriers were on the move around the outskirts of Cairo and that “some high ranking members of the Brotherhood have been arrested”.

Haddad also told Al Jazeera that communication with Morsi was cut off, saying that he could not confirm nor deny whether the president was moved from the Republican Guard Headquarters in the capital.

The statement came as hundreds of thousands of anti-government portesters rallied across the city, flooding Tahrir Square in the centre, the main hub of the opposition coalition movement.