CAIRO – Egypt’s armed forces chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signaled on Tuesday, March 4, that he will run for president, saying he cannot ignore the “majority” of Egyptians who want him to do so, state news agency MENA reported.

Sisi, who ousted Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July, said “official procedures” concerning his candidacy were expected in coming days.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

MENA quoted him as saying at a graduation ceremony at the Cairo war college that he could “not turn his back on calls by the majority of Egyptians for him to run for president.”

Sisi has been coy about his intentions for months, but his speech was the clearest pointer yet that he will stand for the top post in an election he is expected to win by a landslide.

Sisi was Mubarak’s military intelligence chief and is now defense minister.

Many Egyptians liken him to Gamal Abdel Nasser, the colonel who led a coup against the monarchy in 1952, set up an army-led autocracy and rounded up thousands of Brotherhood members.

In his speech, Sisi said Egypt was witnessing difficult times that required the unity of the people, army and police.

Sisi deposed Morsi in July after vast crowds of Egyptians protested in the streets against his rule, and then unveiled a political roadmap he said would lead to free and fair elections.

But Morsi’s overthrow was followed by Egypt’s bloodiest political struggle in its modern history, with the Brotherhood trying to regain power through street protests and authorities mounting a relentless security crackdown against it.

Scores of Morsi supporters protested in central Cairo on Tuesday evening – a rare gathering since a strict new law banning demonstrations.

Apparently reacting to Sisi’s statement, they chanted “down, down with military rule” in a Cairo neighborhood where security forces killed hundreds at a pro-Morsi sit-in in August.

Since then, the authorities have arrested thousands of Islamists and declared the Brotherhood a terrorist group, driving many of its estimated million followers underground.

The upheaval has scared away tourists vital for Egypt’s struggling economy, as well as many investors.

But oil powers Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, who are generally hostile to the Brotherhood, came to Egypt’s rescue, providing billions of dollars in aid.

Western diplomats who have met Sisi said he was reluctant to run for president, acutely aware of the enormous challenges of the job, and of the reality that street protests have helped remove two Egyptian leaders in three years.

While Sisi’s supporters regard him as a savior, opponents hold him responsible for what human rights groups say are widespread abuses, including torture of political detainees.

Aside from an ailing economy, which grew by only one percent in the first quarter of this fiscal year, an energy crisis, industrial action and the tenacious Muslim Brotherhood, Sisi faces a fast-growing Islamist insurgency.

Militants based in the Sinai Peninsula have killed dozens of policemen and soldiers since Morsi’s fall. Attacks have spread elsewhere in Egypt, with bombs targeting army posts and police stations.

The most lethal group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, said one of its suicide bombers tried to kill the interior minister in Cairo last year and it claimed responsibility for killing two South Korean tourists last month.

An Egyptian court on Tuesday banned all Hamas activities in Egypt in another sign that the military-backed government aims to squeeze the Palestinian Islamist group that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip.

Hamas is connected politically and ideologically to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

“The court has ordered the banning of Hamas’s work and activities in Egypt,” the judge, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

During his year in power, Morsi gave red-carpet treatment to Hamas, angering many secular and liberal Egyptians who saw this as part of a creeping Islamist takeover following the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.

The military-buttressed authorities now classify Hamas as a significant security risk, accusing it of supporting an Islamist insurgency that has spread quickly since Morsi’s fall, allegations the Palestinian group denies.

Security officials said in January that after crushing the Brotherhood, military rulers planned steps to undermine Hamas.

The court also ordered the closure of Hamas offices in Egypt, one of the judges overseeing the case told Reuters. The judge stopped short of declaring Hamas a terrorist group, saying the court did not have the jurisdiction to do so.

Hamas condemned the ruling.

“The decision harms the image of Egypt and its role towards the Palestinian cause. It reflects a form of standing against Palestinian resistance (to Israel),” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Gaza-based militant organization.

During Morsi’s rule, Hamas held secretive internal elections in Egypt in 2012. A top Hamas official, Musa Abu Marzouk, lives in Cairo and may be at risk of arrest after the court decision.

The case against Hamas was filed after Morsi’s removal by a group of Egyptian lawyers who asked for it to be outlawed in Egypt and designated a terrorist organization.