Egypt’s military chief has tried to justify his decision to remove Mohammed Morsi from office, saying the Islamist leader had violated his popular mandate.

Egypt’s prosecutor ordered the arrest yesterday of the leaders of ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, charging them with inciting violence in a clash that saw troops shoot 55 Mursi supporters dead.

Egypt’s first democratically-elected president is under house arrest after being overthrown by the military in the same kind of Arab Spring uprising that brought the Islamist leader to power just a year ago.