TENS OF thousands of Egyptians packed Cairo’s Tahrir Square and poured into the streets of the country’s other major cities yesterday to protest against the military’s failure to prosecute senior figures in the ousted regime.
Demonstrators called for ousted president Hosni Mubarak to be put in trial and for the resignation of armed forces chief Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, a close ally of Mr Mubarak.
In Syria, meanwhile, at least 22 demonstrators, protesting at the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, were reported to have died when police shot at them in the southeastern city of Deraa. Protesters set fire to a building of the ruling Baath Party and smashed a statue of the president’s brother, Basil. State television said armed groups killed 19 policemen.
The Cairo demonstration, dubbed the “Friday of Justice and Cleansing” took the dramatic step of questioning the behaviour of the secretive 20-member Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which assumed presidential powers on February 11th, because it has failed to deliver key demands of the democracy movement. The armed forces had previously been portrayed as protector of the uprising and guarantor of the people’s interests.
At least five army officers joined the demonstration in Tahrir, risking jail and court martial. Their presence appeared to indicate serious differences between the SCAF and junior officers.
Syrian and Palestinian flags carried by solidarity envoys appeared alongside Egypt’s black, red and white banner. University students flooded into the square and in a show of sectarian unity, Coptic Christians and Muslims held separate but nearby prayer meetings as they had during the 18-day uprising.
Mahmoud al-Khodeiry, a senior judge from Alexandria, presided over a mock trial of Mr Mubarak.
The protest was attended by members of parties which have stayed away in recent weeks, notably the left-wing Tagammu, the secular Wafd and the Muslim Brotherhood. Youth who have spearheaded the uprising have accused the Brotherhood of collaborating with generals to subvert the transformation to democracy.
The democracy movement has given priority to the release of hundreds arrested during and after the uprising. Many have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment in summary trials while senior figures from the former regime either remain in prison with their trials postponed or under house arrest or they are at liberty.
In a bid to stave off criticism, the SCAF-backed justice ministry remanded in custody for 15 days Mr Mubarak’s chief of staff Zakaria Azmi. But this did not appear to impress protesters.
In Syria, at least 22 people were shot dead by security forces in Deraa, the epicentre of three weeks of protests. Demonstrations also took place in the Damascus working-class suburb of Douma, the port city of Banias, and the northern town of Qamishli where Kurds have been demanding citizenship. Although President Bashar al-Assad announced this demand would be met, it was not clear how many would be affected.
In Iraq, security forces stormed Camp Ashraf, the base of the Iranian People’s Mujahedin, opponents of Iran’s clerical regime. A hospital in nearby Baqouba reported 10 residents of the camp were killed, and five Iraqi soldiers and one policeman injured. Iraq’s pro-Iranian Shia-dominated regime has been trying to close down the camp for several years.
Several thousand Iraqis massed in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to threaten a return to insurgency if all US troops did not leave Iraq by the year’s end.
