CAIRO: Opposition and independent MPs, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, will organize a peaceful march on Monday, May 3, despite the Ministry of Interior’s refusal to grant them permission.
The MPs had sent a memo to the Ministry of Interior to inform it of the time and date of the demonstration scheduled to take place at noon from Tahrir Square in Downtown Cairo to the Parliament building.
The aim is to deliver a request to Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour, calling for an end to the emergency law, in place for almost 30 years; the amendment of constitutional Articles, 76, 77 and 88; and the adoption of a bill guaranteeing political freedom.
The Ministry of Interior responded with a warning to the People’s Assembly, announcing it’s disapproval of holding a peaceful march because of what it described as an "unsuitable security situation," stressing that security services will obstruct the march and will treat the MPs as common citizens, disregarding their parliamentary immunity.
A statement released by the MPs on Saturday said that the interior ministry’s warning will not prevent them from fulfilling their duty towards their country and voicing the people’s demands to Parliament. The statement also called on the interior ministry to take the responsibility of protecting participants in the march and warned against any violations by security services against them.
Saad Aboud, an MP affiliated with the yet unlicensed Karama Party, told Daily News Egypt, "This demonstration is not about defying the interior ministry, it’s about putting our oaths as MPs into action and looking after the people’s best interest. We can’t purge our oaths because of the interior ministry’s disapproval."
He added: "There is news floating around about the possibility of our arrest for inciting people to demonstrate, which is a crime punishable by six months in prison, but despite that we will not yield."
Hamdy Hassan, a Muslim Brotherhood MP, told Daily News Egypt, "It’s strange that the interior ministry would refuse a 200-meter peaceful march, claiming that the security situation is unsuitable."
He added that he considered the interior ministry’s reaction "a government scandal."
"If the government doesn’t want any more scandals, it has to join the people and represent their needs,” he said. "Threatening to remove our parliamentary immunity and arrest us for inciting the people to demonstrate will be a historical scandal for the government."
