Salafi Dawah vice president Yasser Borhamy slammed Islamist forces who criticized the Nour Party for meeting with the liberal National Salvation Front (NSF) to discuss a solution to the ongoing violence.

“Why didn’t they criticize President Mohamed Morsy and [Salafi preachers] Mohamed Hassan and Mohamed Hussein Yacoub when they met with the front?” Borhamy retorted.

The Nour Party launched in initiative to bridge the growing divide between the president and opposition forces, who demand a new government and a new, non-Islamist constitution. The party’s initiative came out of the clashes that erupted nationwide between protesters and police on the second anniversary of the 25 January revolution, which have left more than 53 dead to date.

The NSF rejected Morsy’s invitation to participate in a national dialogue earlier this week, but Front leader Mohamed ElBaradei later changed his mind, and renewed a call for dialogue.

A reported 150 Nour Party members were said to have resigned to protest the meeting between the Nour Party and the NSF. The Nour Party has not confirmed this report.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm