By Abdel Rahman Youssef
ALEXANDRIA: Scuffles between protesters in front of Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque in Alexandria after Friday Prayers erupted a day after the Muslim Brotherhood group held 15 protests across the city demanding the removal of the current government.
As they chanted against the Muslim Brotherhood, the protesters, whose affiliations were unclear, called for the implementation of Sharia. This provoked a third group who had believed that the first group belonged to the MB, and so they began calling for a civil state.
MB and Salafi leaderships denied to Daily News Egypt that they had organized any protests after Friday prayers, as hundreds of protesters later demonstrated to demand a constitution for all Egyptians and condemning the current formation of the constituent assembly.
Coordinator of the Civil Democratic Coalition in Alexandria Abdel Rahman El-Gohary said that the confrontations were caused by undercover security elements who intentionally wanted to ruin a protest planned by the coalition for a “Constitution for All”.
El-Gohary told DNE that the aim of the protest is to confirm that the conflict is not ideological but is directed against a specific political force that wants to draft the constitution unilaterally on the pretext of having a parliamentary majority.
The coalition raised signs reading “No MB, No Salafis, the constitution is for all Egyptians”, “We will all write our constitution”, as El-Gohary asserted that the coalition rejects trading in religion and rejects “military rule”.
The mass protests organized by the MB on Thursday are part of a campaign launched by the group to pressure Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzoury to step down.
The protests were attended by members of the Brotherhood’s administrative and representatives of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the group’s political arm, some Alexandria MPs.
The Brotherhood said that over 30,000 participated in the protests with especially high female participation.
Thousands of leaflets were distributed accusing the ruling military council of “conspiring and planning for the crisis staged by cabinet.”
The protesters chanted “down with military rule”, “no to the government of crisis, no for the government of Ganzoury”, “the military said sovereign ministries are for the thieves, and we said we will not give up, we did not forget the martyrs”, “oh, you who are killing the people, we will revolt again.”
An FJP spokesman said that more protests are planned at Cabinet-affiliated offices in Alexandria and in front of Bibliotheca Alexandrina until the government is sacked and power is handed back to a civilian authority.
General coordinator of the campaign Anas El-Kady and a youth member of the MB said that “the ruling military council has to realize that thousands of MB youth are willing to revolt again and their threats will not terrify us.”
He added that youth participation in the campaign will be huge, as the MB prepares more youth activities to escalate the mass action to sack the government and pressure the military to steer clear from intervening in the formation of the Constituent Assembly to ensure its special status in the constitution.
