Thirteen Egyptian political parties and movements have announced plans to stage mass anti-government rallies on Monday to mark the second anniversary of former president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.
Protesters on Monday plan to voice their rejection of perceived repressive measures adopted by Egypt’s Islamist-led government and what the opposition sees as persistent attempts to “crush the revolution.”
Monday’s rallies are expected to include marches on Cairo’s Tahrir Square and the Presidential Palace in the capital’s Heliopolis district. In the evening, a candlelight vigil will also be held in Tahrir Square with the ostensible aim of “mourning freedom.”
With tripartite demands for ‘the downfall of the regime,’ ‘justice for martyrs’ and ‘social justice,’ two mass marches have been scheduled, according to a statement issued Sunday by political forces taking part in the planned protests.
The first march will set out from the Fath Mosque in Cairo’s Ramses district, while the second will depart from the nearby Sayeda Zeinab Mosque. Both marches, which will kick off at 5pm, will converge on Tahrir Square.
“Two years after the first victory of the revolution [Mubarak’s ouster], Egypt’s first democratically elected president has set a record for lying and broken promises,” the statement reads. “Blood was shed yet again and martyrs fell under Brotherhood rule, which has perfected the arts of repression, brutality and abduction.”
Political parties to have endorsed Monday’s rallies include: the Socialist Popular Alliance, the Youth for Justice and Freedom Movement, the Constitution Party, the Popular Movement for the Independence of Al-Azhar, the Karama Party, the Free Front for Peaceful Change, the Maspero Youth Union, the Arab Revolution Youth Movement, the Revolutionary Socialists, the Egyptian Popular Current, the Egypt Freedom Party, the National Association for Change and the Kefaya movement.
“In the midst of ceaseless political repression, economic and social malaise is worsening day after day…successive governments have failed to fulfil even one of the demands of social justice,” the statement continued.
Two other marches are planned to set out from the Nour Mosque in Abbasiya and the Raba Al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City. Both will converge on the Presidential Palace, according to April 6 youth movement spokesman Tariq El-Kholi.
The Revolutionary Forces Coalition also plans to stage four marches to Tahrir Square and the Presidential Palace, according to coalition coordinator Haytham El-Shawaaf.
Two marches will set out for Tahrir Square from the Mohandeseen district’s Mostafa Mahmoud Square and Dawaran Shubra Square in the working-class Shubra Al-Kheima district. Two other marches will set out for the Presidential Palace from Nasr City’s Raba Al-Adawiya Mosque and Alf Maskan Square in the Hadayek Al-Kobba district.
Meanwhile, the ‘Second Egyptian Revolution of Rage’ movement is joining forces with other revolutionary groups and Facebook pages to take part in Monday’s protests, group coordinator Hisham El-Shaal told Al-Ahram’s Arabic-language news website.
The ‘Black Bloc’ group also announced plans to block the Mogamma building in Tahrir Square on Monday, the country’s largest administrative building, in the run-up to a civil disobedience campaign called for by some revolutionary groups on Facebook.
In a similar vein, the April 6 movement has called for a “peaceful” protest Monday morning before the prosecutor-general’s office to demand justice for slain activist Gaber Salah.
Salah, 16, also known as ‘Jika,’ was killed in November of last year during protests marking the first anniversary of the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes. The march will condemn “the authorities’ constant stalling and plans to file the case against ‘unknown’ culprits,” the group said on its official Facebook page.
Egypt has been gripped by violence since the second anniversary of its January 25revolution, which has left at least 59 killed and hundreds injured.
The recent spate of unrest has been inflamed by anger against what activists perceive as President Mohamed Morsi’s attempts to monopolise power and by the state of social and economic malaise that has settled over Egypt since Mubarak’s ouster.
Ahram
