The Egyptian government unveiled its harshest measure to date against the Muslim Brotherhood, declaring the organization of the former president a terrorist organization and vowing to treat any member – or even anyone who takes part in its activities – as a terrorist.

It opens the door to the most severe crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in its 80-year history, granting the military and the police new authority to violently suppress protests.  Brotherhood charitable organizations could be outlawed under the new rule.  Hundreds of thousands of members will now have to decide if they want to be considered terrorists and face prison, or abandon the group.

This comes a day after Egyptian officials blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the bombing at a police headquarters north of Cairo that killed 16 people and injured dozens more.  The government supplied no evidence to back its accusation.  A separate Islamist group claimed credit for that attack, and criticized the Muslim Brotherhood for not being militant enough.