Tahrir Square on July 29 2011. Photo: wiki commons.

The deadline given by Egypt’s military to President Mohamed Morsi for reaching a resolution over political unrest in the country is quickly approaching, with news outlets reporting either 4 or 5 pm local time as the official hour of reckoning.

For his part, Morsi has already rejected the ultimatum given by the military—that he reach a resolution or risk having the military take steps to stem the unrest—with a spokesman saying he will “die in the defense of democracy.”

Meanwhile there have been conflicting reports as to who is in control of the country’s state-run media. Al-Ahram, which is majority owned by the Egyptian government, is one of the major media outlets that has been reported taken over by the military, as is Egyptian state TV, with the Associated Press reporting the presence of military officers in its newsroom.

According to Al-Ahram, steps are already being taken against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, with a number of leaders being placed under house arrest, and Brotherhood funds “put under surveillance.”

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Egyptians were reported streaming into Egypt’s Tahrir Square, flashpoint for the 2011 Arab Spring, and the streets of Cairo as reports surfaced that the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing had rejected an offer of a meeting with military officials.