By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: A number of opposition parties and groups organized a protest against parliamentary “elections fraud” at the Journalists’ Syndicate on Sunday afternoon, after security prevented them from gathering at Tahrir Square as planned.
Among the protestors were members of ElBaradei Support Association (BSA) and the Free Front for Peaceful Change.
“We are here today to say that what [former IAEA chief Mohamed] ElBaradei said about the possible fraud of the elections has happened, and to protest against the illegal practices and false results that took place during the elections,” Hisham Al-Hawary, the general coordinator of BSA, told Daily News Egypt.
“This upcoming parliament is illegitimate,” said Al Hawary. “And since [the parliament] will play a big role in choosing the next president, he too will be illegitimate.”
Protestors escalated the tone of their chants from criticizing election fraud to criticizing the president, comparing him to the late president Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated in 1981.
They attributed this escalation in the tone of their protests to the “heavy security crackdown” made by central security forces dressed in bullet-proof jackets. The protestors stated that actions like these are “an indicator of [the government’s] readiness to use violence.”
Ayman Nour, the head of El-Ghad Party, and Hamdeen Sabahy, the founder of Al-Karama Party, were both expected to attend the protest but ultimately did not make an appearance.
