The options in Egypt are fewer and fewer.  The prospects of a military usurpation must be increasing by the day. 

Egypt’s Islamist President Declares State of Emergency as Violence Intensifies: ‘A Complete State of Collapse’

Jan. 27, 2013 4:00pm  

Erica Ritz

The Blaze

CAIRO (TheBlaze/AP) — Shortly after the second anniversary of the revolution that brought Mohammed Morsi to power, the Islamist Egyptian president has declared a 30-day state of emergency in the three Suez Canal provinces hit hardest by a wave of political violence that has left more than 50 people dead in three days.

Angry and almost screaming, Mohammed Morsi vowed in a televised address that he would not hesitate to take even more action to stem the latest eruption of violence across much of the country.

  “I instructed interior ministry officials to strictly deal with whoever threatens people, and public and private institutions,” Morsi said, according to Russia Today.  He claimed that the move is “for the sake of Egypt.” Residents of the three provinces– Port Said, Ismailiya and Suez– will have a mandatory curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., Al Ahram reports.

 The regime is doubling down.  If a section of the populace are reacting to state force being used against opponents of the regime and minorities, and if they are calling for constitutional protections to be given to those who do not agree with an imposition of consistent Islamic practices upon all, then the imposition of a state of emergency will merely serve to prove to the opponents of the regime that their instincts about the government have been right all along.

This report from Al Jazeera:

In Port Said, Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh said military helicopters that had been overhead during the funeral could also be heard during Morsi's speech.  "I dont see how these decisions will instil any confidence in the people," Rageh said, referring to the president's decision to impose a state of emergency.   She said that immediate reaction in Port Said was one of mockery and scepticism with many asking why the three canal cities had been singled out.

"The people [in Port Said] feel that there was a complete state of collapse especially after riots today, particularly with tear gas being fired into the funerals," she said.  Several hundred people protested in Ismailia, Suez and Port Said after the announcement. Activists in the three cities  vowed to defy the curfew in protest at the decision. . . .

Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch in Cairo said a state of emergency reintroduced laws that gave police sweeping powers of arrest "purely because [people] look suspicious".  "It is a classic knee-jerk reaction to think the emergency law will help bring security," she said. "It gives so much discretion to the Ministry of Interior that it ends up causing more abuse which in turn causes more anger."

When protests first erupted against the Morsi regime, there were three possible options on the table: a government backtrack, followed by a genuine remoulding of the constitution  to protect the freedom rights of minorities; or, a government double down upon dissent; or, the military to resume power.  The first option is now clearly gone.  We are left with just two.  If social breakdown continues and more people are killed and the threat of destabilisation of the country leading to civil war (c.f. Syria) becomes a serious prospect, we expect the military will once again take over.  All their instincts about the anarchy of democracy will have been verified.