Army chief Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi announced the move on Wednesday, in what Mr Morsi said was a military coup³.

 

Gen Sisi said Mr Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader, had "failed to meet the demands of the people".

 

The move comes after days of mass rallies against the Islamist president.

 

Protesters accused him and the Muslim Brotherhood⁴ of pursuing an Islamist agenda for the country and of failing to tackle Egypt's economic problems.

 

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Cairo says the president had appeared to protesters to be economically out of his depth, and had not given them the reassurances⁵ they wanted that he could address rampant⁶（猖獗的，蔓延的） poverty.

 

Some 50 people have died since the latest unrest began on Sunday.

 

Mr Morsi's opponents celebrated⁷ through the night in Cairo's Tahrir Square, after the army announced it had suspended the Islamist-backed constitution - approved by a referendum in 2012 - and pledged to hold new elections.

 

But a number of people were killed as clashes erupted overnight between Morsi supporters and the security forces in Cairo and Alexandria.

 

Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, told the BBC the ousted leader had been put under house arrest and the "entire presidential team" was in detention⁹.

 

Mr Haddad's father, senior Morsi aide Essam el-Haddad, and Saad al-Katatni, head of the Brotherhood's political wing, are among those held.

 

The state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported that arrest warrants had been issued for 300 leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

US President Barack Obama has said he is "deeply concerned" by the latest turn of events and called for a swift return to civilian¹⁰ rule.

 

The removal of the president followed four days of mass protests against Mr Morsi and an ultimatum¹¹ issued by the military, which expired on Wednesday afternoon.

 

In his televised speech, Gen Sisi said the armed forces could not ignore the call of the Egyptian masses. 

 

He spoke⁸ of a new roadmap for the future, and said Mr Mansour would be given the task of "running the country's affairs during the transitional period until the election of a new president".

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