Mohamed Omar
Despite the low turnout at the 24 August protests, different political powers are calling for further protests for Friday 31 August.
Calls initially came from the Second Revolution of Anger Facebook page, where the page began agitating for a “million-man march” to Tahrir square nearly a month ago.
“We shall organise different marches to Tahrir square right after the Friday prayer,” Hesham Al-Shal, the general coordinator of the page said.
Among the movements due to take place in the protests are; April 6 Movement, Democratic Front, Youth for Justice and Freedom movement, the Freedom Front for Peaceful Change and the Revolutionary Powers Coalition.
The protests have one main request, the release of all those detained in relation to political incidents and protests which have taken place in Egypt since the 25 January uprising, alongside a long list of other demands.
“You can say that demanding the cease of the state’s ‘Brotherhoodisation’ is also among our demands.” Al-Shal said. “Yet, we do not want to press with that demand at the time being in order to avoid any mix-up with the 24 August protests.”
The 24 August protests, called for by ex-Member of Parliament Mohamed Abu Hamed, mainly called for the disbanding of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Meanwhile, another protest also scheduled for Friday is demanding an end to the Brotherhood’s monopoly of power.
Leftist activist and founder of the Labour Democratic Party Kamal Khalil was among the first to call for the protest.
“Initial calls were for a million-man march,” Khalil said. “However, certain revolutionary powers suggested we do not call for a million-man protest until Morsy’s first 100 days of rule are over.”
Khalil refused to identify those revolutionary powers, preferring to avoid any form of “categorisation.”
Among the demands of the protest, scheduled to take place at Tala’at Harb Square in downtown at 6pm, is refusal of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan requested by the Government.
“This isn’t a continuation of the 24 August protests,” Khalil said. “The latter was called for by elements that had supported ex-presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq who only took to the streets to protest against the Brotherhood. They have allied themselves with SCAF. We as revolutionaries do not mix our cards.”
According to Khalil, all civil political powers are to take place in that protest, including socialists, Nasserites, liberals and the Taggammu party.
One movement which did take part in the 24 August protests, the Maspero Youth Union, is also answering Khalil’s call.
“We do not care about those calling for the protests; the protests’ demands are our main concern,” Mina Magdy, the Union’s spokesperson and head of political committee, said.
“The January uprising called for bread, freedom and social justice,” Magdy said. “The Brotherhood has increased the prices of bread, they have gone against freedom by detaining journalists and confiscating newspapers and they have disregarded social justice by considering the IMF loan which shall further add to Egypt’s already existing burdens.”
