Egypt army chief ousts Morsi

Fireworks light the sky moments after Egypt’s military chief said the president had been replaced by chief justice of constitutional court outside the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, July 3, 2013.  AP PHOTO/NARIMAN EL-MOFTY 

CAIRO—Egypt’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted president Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday and declared the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court caretaker leader.

Sisi also announced a suspension of the Islamist-drafted constitution and early presidential elections.

Army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, said a government of technocrats will be appointed to run the country during a transition period he did not specify.

An aide of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, Ayman Ali, said the former leader had been moved to an undisclosed location. He gave no details.

Cheers erupted among millions of protesters nationwide who were demanding Morsi’s ouster. Fireworks lit the Cairo night sky. Morsi supporters elsewhere in the city shouted “No to military rule.”

A statement on the Egyptian president’s office’s Twitter account quoted Mohammed Morsi as calling the military measures “a full coup.”

The denouncement was posted shortly after the Egyptian military announced it was ousting Morsi, who was Egypt’s first freely elected leader but drew ire with his Islamist leanings.

Morsi was quoted as saying those measures “represent a full coup categorically rejected by all the free men of our nation.”

Originally posted at 3:43 a.m.