EGYPTIANS FEAR widespread violence during today’s mass demonstrations in the squares, streets and boulevards of Cairo, Alexandria and Ismailiya.
In Cairo, there is concern that the tens of thousands of secularists who have been occupying and attending nightly rallies in Tahrir Square could clash with large numbers of Muslim fundamentalists expected to return after a week’s boycott of events in the square.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its radical allies feel they must mount a show of strength to prove they are more popular and powerful than the secularists who have filled Tahrir since last Saturday.
The secularists are calling for supporters to occupy Tahrir until a national salvation government is appointed, officers responsible for the ongoing crackdown are identified and prosecuted, and the hated internal security apparatus is dismantled.
In the latest round of violence, at least 38 people have been killed and 1,800 injured. The Brotherhood and its allies agree with these demands but are urging protesters to leave the square. The Brotherhood is keen to see the first phase of the parliamentary election proceed as scheduled on Monday because it believes its candidates will win a large number of seats. If voting is postponed, the move- ment believes it could suffer losses.
As speculation over the postponement of elections rose yesterday, the higher election commission announced that delay would be illegal but said that if a decree was issued by the ruling military council the commission would “consider the alternatives”. Speaking on behalf of the council, Maj Gen Mamdouh Shahin reaffirmed that polling would proceed as planned, in three stages, beginning November 28th.
While activists do not believe that Egyptians can go to the polls as long as Tahrir is occupied and the country gripped by uncertainty, the majority is eager to vote in the first free election in the country and will be deeply resentful if the poll is deferred. Both the military and the Brotherhood are counting on these feelings to strengthen the case for holding the election on time.
Last night, thousands of Egyptians poured into Tahrir Square to show support for protesters who continue to call for the immediate ouster of the military which has refused to cede power to civilians.
Resigning now would amount to “betrayal” of the trust Egyptians had placed in the armed forces following the toppling of president Hosni Mubarak in February, stated Maj Gen Mukhtar al-Mallah, a council spokesman.
In a bid to restore security in central Cairo, the military intervened in the battle between armed interior ministry defenders and angry young men by building a wall across Muhammad Mahmoud Street, which leads from Tahrir to the ministry.
The military’s expression of “deep sorrow and apology for the martyrdom of Egyptians killed in recent incidents in Tahrir” did not impress protesters. The latest clashes began when police evicted from Tahrir families seeking compensation for relatives slain and wounded in the uprising.