Egypt’s army has announced the removal of President Mohamed Mursi and suspended the country’s constitution, following four days of violent mass protests across the country.

Army chief General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi appeared on state television late in the evening on 3 July to announce the removal from office of Mursi and the suspension of the constitution. He was elected president a little over one year ago.  

After four days of violent mass protests by both supporters and opponents of Mursi, the head of Egypt’s army said the former president had “failed to meet the demands of the Egyptian people” and had been removed from office. Mursi reportedly called the decision by the military a coup.

Al-Sisi said the chief justice of the constitutional court would take on Mursi’s powers until elections can be held. Mursi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders are reported to be in detention.

Mursi became Egypt’s first freely elected president on 24 June 2012, following the removal of previous leader Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. However, critics had become increasingly vocal about his leadership recently and after street protests showed no sign of ending, a 48-hour ultimatum was issued to Mursi by the military to end the crisis. That expired on Wednesday afternoon.

US President Barack Obama said he was “deeply concerned” by the latest turn of events and called for a swift return to civilian rule.

TV stations belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood went off air at the end of the speech and state news agency Mena said managers at the movement’s Misr25 channel had been arrested.

Security forces were also reported to have raided the Cairo offices of al-Jazeera’s Egyptian television channel Mubasher Misr, arresting several workers.

Clashes have erupted in the northern city of Marsa Matrouh, with at least four people killed. Another person was reported killed in the coastal city of Alexandria. If confirmed, this would bring the death toll from the past 24 hours to 21.