HUNDREDS of thousands rallied in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday in response to a call by several Egyptian political forces for a series of protests in support of an anti-Mursi petition drive — Tamarod, or ‘Rebellion’ campaign.
The ‘million-man rally’ kicked off the campaign with the aim of decrying the imprisonment of political activists and pressing for early presidential polls.
The signature-collecting movement, which aims to gather 15 million signatures in support of a vote of no confidence in President Mohamed Mursi before the end of June.
This will be higher than the votes Mursi got in last year’s election.
With 13.2 million votes, Mursi won by 51.7 per cent against Ahmed Shafiq, who was the last premier to serve under ousted president Hosny Mubarak.
On June 30, when Mursi marks one year in power, the activists plan to take their petition and protest in front of the Ittihadiya presidential palace in north-eastern Cairo to demand snap presidential elections.
‘Since he arrived in power, ordinary citizens feel that no revolution goal was achieved …he achieved neither security nor social justice and proved that he is a total failure and is not capable of ruling a country like Egypt,’ reads the text on the petition.
A number of marches set out for Tahrir Square last Friday.
Meeting points included the Journalists’ Syndicate in Downtown Cairo, Mohandeseen district’s Mostafa Mahmoud Square, Dawaran Shubra Square in Cairo’s Shubra district as well as central Cairo’s Sayeda Zeinab Mosque.
Several political parties and movements announced plans to partake in the planned rallies.
These included the Constitution Party, the Free Front for Peaceful Change and the Free Egyptians Party.
Ahmed Harawy, member of the April 6 Youth Movement that recently voiced support with the initiative, said on Thursday the group would actively provide volunteers for the signature collecting process over the coming two weeks.
The signature drive, which officially started on May 1st, had collected over two million signatures by last Thursday.
Members of the Constitution Party are also volunteering in the signature collecting process and a number took part in planned anti-government demos.
Constitution Party member Alfred Raouf said: ‘We will prove to the regime that it has lost its legitimacy and wil give hope to the people once again.
‘Such pressure might finally lead us to early presidential elections.’
Egypt’s opposition has voiced mounting discontent with the Islamist government, accusing it of smothering dissent and attempting to monopolise the country’s state institutions.
Visibly shaken by the mass movement, Yasser Hamza, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, has slammed the planned protests.
In televised comments last Wednesday, Hamza claimed Friday’s rallies would send the world a negative image of Egypt by suggesting continuing political and economic instability.
And a report was filed on Wednesday to the Supreme State Security Prosecution accusing the Tamarod campaign of attempting to overthrow the Mursi regime.
Lawyer Ashraf Nagui filed the report against campaign spokesperson Mahmoud Badr alongside all known campaign members.
The report was also filed against a number of political figures supporting the campaign, including Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby founder Hamdeen Sabahy, Al-Dostour Party founder Mohamed ElBaradei, 6 April Youth Movement founder Ahmed Maher and ‘all other opposition leaders who support the campaign and publicise it’.
The report accused the campaign members and opposition leaders of a long list of crimes, including establishing and joining a group which aims to stall the constitution, preventing the presidency from performing its duties, harming national unity, destroying the state system, inciting the overthrow of the regime, spreading false rumours about the country’s internal affairs and disturbing general security.
The report demands the trial of the accused according to Egypt’s Penal Code.
In response to the report, Tamarod released a statement stressing it will not retract regardless of the threats it receives.
The statement read: ‘Tamarod campaign is that of all Egyptians‘
’Even if we end up losing our lives, it will be a simple price for completing our revolution.’
The statement also expressed its surprise at the extent that the government was ‘terrorising’ the campaign and the people supporting it, stating that the report proves Mursi’s regime is reaching its end.
The Tamarod statement also accused lawyer Nagui of being affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Nagui responded: ‘I am not a Brotherhood member. I have no relation to Brotherhood leaders.
‘I just saw a string of crimes being committed and decided to fulfil my duty by reporting them,’ he claimed.
Nagui stated that the Penal Code is an ‘oppressive law created by the former regime to hold an iron fist over the country’. He nevertheless added that as long as the Penal Code remains, it should be respected and followed.
Meanwhile, workers demanding to be reinstated in the Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultations (Petrojet) clashed with company security last Wednesday.
Five workers had entered a company building to hold negotiations with company administration. The rest of the workers were camping outside the company, waiting to see what the negotiations will lead to.
According to Dalia Moussa, Workers Coordinator at the Egyptian Centre for Social and Economic Rights, 350 to 400 workers showed up on Wednesday at the company, expecting the company to offer them positions, as company officials had allegedly promised.
On arrival they found several Central Security Forces trucks lined up outside the company premises. They were not allowed to enter and were told that there were no jobs for them.
The workers blocked a major road soon after and clashes broke out between workers and company security.
‘Company security hosed the workers down with water and threw rocks at them. The workers threw rocks back,’ Moussa said.
Mohamed Al-Shahat, one of the workers who was laid off, said teargas was fired at the workers.
Some Petrojet workers have not been working on company projects for nearly two years and are demanding jobs. In the past two years, they held several demonstrations demanding to be offered jobs again and have spoken to many officials.
Al-Shahat said the issue was discussed with (President Mursi’s first) Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s cabinet and the cabinet of subsequent prime ministers Kamal El-Ganzoury, and Hesham Qandil.
‘We knocked on all the doors,’ he said, stating that he had been working with the company for ten years.
He said the company says there are currently no projects to employ workers.
The company administration has claimed it is attempting to obtain new projects, adding that if all company workers are used in these projects, the laid-off workers can be gradually brought back to work due to their experience and qualifications.
