Egyptian Police Prepare to Disperse Pro-Morsi Sit-Ins Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the ousted president, at a square in Cairo on Sunday. CAIRO - The Egyptian police were preparing to move at dawn on Monday to choke off two sit-ins where tens of thousands have gathered to protest the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, Interior Ministry officials said Sunday night, vowing to gradually press further until the demonstrators dispersed. The new military-appointed government has promised for more than a week to use all necessary force to clear out the sit-ins, which were established by Mr. Morsi's Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood upon his ouster nearly six weeks ago. But until now, a combination of external pressure from Western powers and internal dissent from liberal cabinet ministers had appeared to persuade Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, the officer who ordered the takeover, to hold off decisive action. It remained possible on Sunday night that the latest pledge to clear out the sit-ins might also fail to materialize. But if it proceeds, human rights advocates said Sunday night, the police action could lead to the loss of dozens of lives, in part because, they say, the Egyptian police are incapable of a gradual escalation - especially if they meet any friction or resistance. "If the Egyptian police managed to intervene using responsible, proportionate force, it would be the first time," said Karim Medhat Ennarah, a criminal justice researcher for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. "I don't think they have the capacity to do that," he said, adding that the police killed at least 140 Morsi supporters in mass shootings at smaller demonstrations in the weeks since his ouster. I will be surprised if it did not start another round of lethal violence. Congressional leaders and Western diplomats have said such a bloody crackdown would provoke a cutoff of the $1.3 billion in annual American military assistance to Egypt. Diplomats say it could also block a $4.8 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund that the new government calls essential to turning around the economy. Rights advocates also warn that the use of force could increase the chance that Mr. Morsi's Islamist supporters around the country would turn to violence in retaliation. The new government has detained many of his top allies on apparently politicized criminal charges, stirring Islamist fears of a return to the old police state. Interior Ministry officials said Sunday that they would move in slowly, gradually surrounding the sit-ins to cut off any shipments of food and water. The officials said they would eventually block any entrance to the sit-ins but leave one exit open so that demonstrators could leave at will. After that, the ministry officials said, the police will gradually step up the use of nonlethal tactics, including tear gas and water cannons. But it was unclear whether the police intended to escalate their pressure over a matter of hours, days or weeks. How the police would handle resistance was another question, especially with both sides on edge after the recent deadly clashes. The demonstrators have already erected barricades and stored piles of rocks to throw at attackers. Birdshot pellets and homemade handguns have become increasingly common at Egyptian street protests, including among Islamists. Government officials have accused the Islamists of stockpiling weapons, although both sit-ins appear to be overwhelmingly peaceful. Brotherhood leaders said Sunday that their demonstrations would remain nonviolent even if the police moved in. Gehad el-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman, all but dared them to try. "If they try to disperse the sit-ins by force, we will just create a new sit-in, or multiple sit-ins," he said. It is the people who make the sit-ins, not the sit-ins that make the cause. For weeks, Mohamed ElBaradei, the interim vice president and Nobel Prize-winning former diplomat - along with a few colleagues, including Ziad Bahaa el-Din, the interim deputy prime minister - had led a push for a patient, less-violent approach to the sit-ins, say human rights advocates and Western diplomats who have worked with the new cabinet. Mr. ElBaradei had urged the new government to seek a political reconciliation with Mr. Morsi's Islamist backers, the victors in Egypt's first free elections, that might convince them to participate in a renewed democratic process despite the military takeover. General Sisi, the central power behind the government, appeared to have been persuaded by the arguments for a measured response to the sit-ins, the rights advocates and diplomats said. Among other things, they said, General Sisi may have worried about a possible resignation by Mr. ElBaradei, who has used his international reputation to try to persuade the West that Mr. Morsi's ouster can be a step toward a more inclusive democracy. Kareem Fahim and Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting.