The army would be forced to intervene if anti-government protests push Egypt into chaos, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Wednesday, according to the state news agency.

CAIRO: The army would be forced to intervene if anti-government protests push Egypt into chaos, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Wednesday, according to the state news agency.
“We have to preserve the constitution, even if it is amended,” Abul Gheit told Al-Arabiya television, according to the MENA news agency.
“He warned that if chaos occurs, the armed forces will intervene to control the country, a step, he said, which would lead to a very dangerous situation,”the news agency said, paraphrasing the interview.
Gheit’s remarks came the day after Egypt’s Vice President Omar Suleiman warned those protesting in the street against Mubarak risk provoking a situation in which a coup d’etat was possible.

Suleiman’s statement was dismissed by many of the protesters on the streets of Cairo, and denounced as a threat by one of the most powerful of opposition groups, the Muslim Brotherhood.
“This amounts to a threat that is unacceptable in the eyes of the Egyptian people,” Mohammed Mursi, a spokesman for the Islamist group.
“The protesters have imposed a new legitimacy, and this legitimacy should be respected, for it cannot be threatened,” he said.
Since January 25, Egypt has been gripped by mass protests against the government, with hundreds of thousands taking part in street rallies and many occupying a key square in downtown Cairo and a street near parliament.
The demonstrators want Mubarak to step down immediately, but he has vowed to hang on until presidential elections in September, in order, he says, to ensure an orderly transition in power.
Opposition parties want major constitutional reform to allow them to compete in the presidential and legislative elections on a level playing field.