Mass protests and civil disobedience against government maltreatment and marginalisation continued on Friday for the sixth consecutive day in the Canal cities of Port Said and Suez, which lost tens of its residents of late.
Port Said protesters’ demands include the appointment of an independent judge to oversee a new investigation into the football stadium tragedy of February 2012, when over 70 fans of the Cairo-based Ahly football club were killed in post-match clashes between Port Said fans and Ultras Ahlawy.
The protesters also called for prosecution of those responsible for the killing more than 40 of its residents who were protesting on 26 January the death sentence verdicts against 21 of the accused in the football stadium tragedy, and compensation for those injured.
Meanwhile, across various parts of the north of the country, hundreds of protesters have joined anti-government rallies in what activists dubbed “The day of putting the regime on trial.”
In the capital, tens of protesters marched from the districts of Sayeda Zeinab and Shubra marching to the office of the prosecutor-general at the High Court building in midtown Cairo.
The political parties and revolutionary groups, which instigated the rallies holding President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood accountable for “their crimes against Egyptians,” also demanded the dismissal of the Morsi-appointed prosecutor-general, and the immediate release of all detained political activists.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested in Cairo and elsewhere during anti-government demonstrations since the second January 25 Revolution anniversary. The prosecutor-general, Talaat Abdullah, has been accused by many activists of detaining protesters for political reasons.
Alexandria, meanwhile, witnessed modest anti-government demonstrations at Qaed Ibrahim mosque. Hussein Gomaa, a leftist activist, told Ahram Arabic news website that some activists and members of the Egyptian Popular Current had withdrawn from the protest, opting to move their anti-government protests to 1 March, in objection to banners carried by several demonstrators calling for “the return of military rule.”
In Kafr El-Sheikh city in the northern Delta tens also demonstrated against President Morsi for the third consecutive weekend demanding the dismissal of their governor Saad El-Husseiny, who is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the privately owned ONTV satellite channel, protesters have blocked the international highway connecting the governorates of El-Beheira, Alexandria and Kafr El-Sheikh.
In Mahalla, in the Gharbiya governorate, protesters blocked El-Shoun railway tracks, according to the official news agency MENA.
The political parties and revolutionary groups who called for Friday’s demonstrations include the Free Front for Peaceful Change, the Arab Revolution Youth Movement, the Popular Movement for the Independence of Al-Azhar, the Constitution Party youth, the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, and the April 6 Youth Movement (Democratic Front).
Ahram
