SEVERAL thousand Egyptian democracy advocates marched back into Tahrir Square yesterday, four weeks after the launch of the mass action that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
The demonstration was called to demand the resignation of the cabinet appointed by Mr Mubarak before he stepped down. The ruling armed forces’ supreme council insists that the ministers should remain in caretaker capacity until elections are held in September.
The democracy movement has rejected the military’s decision to reappoint prime minister Ahmad Shafiq although he has dismissed figures accused of abuses and corruption, completed a partial cabinet reshuffle and named several new ministers, including members of the liberal Wafd and leftist Tagammu – two of the country’s veteran opposition parties.
Speaking on the phone from Tahrir Square, Nazli, a youth activist, said the cabinet, sworn in as the demonstration took place, had been given until Friday to dissolve.
She said the protesters were also calling for “cancellation of the emergency law” imposed in 1981 and “release of political prisoners still in custody”. A second person who attended the demonstration, Muhammad Aboulghar, a veteran rights campaigner, added that protesters were demanding the dismantling of the internal security forces which attacked demonstrators during their 18-day occupation of the square.
This gathering was seen as a test of the resolve of the democracy camp to maintain pressure on the military, but five parties and organisations from a loose coalition belonging to the camp refused to participate. These include the Wafd, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the group led by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei. They are sticking to the agreement with the military to demonstrate only on Fridays.
Another source in Cairo told The Irish Times that the military feels itself to be in a strong position now. “It has dropped Mubarak” who, although formally ousted, was still giving orders to his old comrades until this week.
The high command is also starting to “hijack the uprising. It’s looking for the next Nasser”, a reference to Gamal Abdel Nasser, the army colonel who led the 1952 coup against King Farouk and became the most popular leader in the history of the Arab world.
The source reiterated an earlier contention that the army’s actions have, so far, been only “cosmetic. The transition [from the Mubarak regime] has not begun. This will happen only when the Shafiq government stands down.
“The regime is still there. It is not talking about sharing power with civil society; it is not talking with civil society.”
The military, the source added, was in a hurry to hold elections.
It wants to prevent changes in the election law and stop new parties from forming. Although youth activists want elections to be held in a year or 18 months and call for the creation of an interim government, including representatives of the military and civil society, the military has refused to consider these demands.
The source said the brotherhood was playing an opportunist game with the military while trying “not to lose the street”.
The brotherhood is reaping the rewards of this policy, the source said: “Ten radical [fundamentalist] television channels banned before [last November’s parliamentary election] are now broadcasting.
“[Television] talk shows also have a [fundamentalist] tendency. The Wafd is also co-operating with the military. We will see how things go on Friday.”
