Journalists and lawyers met at their syndicates on Tuesday afternoon to protest President Mohamed Morsy’s constitutional declaration.
Journalists chanted “down with the rule of the Brotherhood” in front of the Press Syndicate under signs condemning the president’s constitutional declaration and the freedom of the press restrictions that journalists have complained about over the last few months.
“We are going to [Tahrir Square] to fight the rise of another dictatorship,” said Rasha Ramzy, a politics journalist. “This constitutional declaration has given us a new dictator.”
Hundreds of lawyers and other demonstrators gathered at the Lawyers Syndicate around the corner from the Press Syndicate. Protesters chanted for the downfall of the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie.
“The lawyers of the country reject the [Constituent] Assembly,” shouted the lawyers, who began pouring into Ramsis Street as their numbers grew.
“The most dangerous thing we have seen is that the president independently issues decisions and laws and has completely interfered in the judiciary,” said lawyer Mohamed Nour. “He thinks he has the authority to remove the prosecutor general who he doesn’t like and replace him with one [Talaat Ibrahim] who he does like.
“He’s also limiting the powers of the Supreme Constitutional Court, which has a history of upholding just rulings and protecting the constitution,” he added.
“Those who have risen to power today are happy that they have the authority, but they want to continue to repress the same way the old regime did and want even more power than they did.”
Osama Boshra, holding a banner with a crescent and a cross that read “Egypt for all Egyptians”, said, “our president has begun collecting powers that are making him a dictator the likes of which Egypt has never seen before.
“He has decided to acquire illegitimate power. There were other ways he could have removed the prosecutor general, but he decided to include it in a declaration that immunises him from judicial rulings and he decided to protect an illegitimate Constituent Assembly and a Shura Council that only a small number of Egyptians voted for.”
The groups from both syndicates marched to Tahrir Square, adding to the thousands of protesters who had already gathered to voice their opposition to Morsy’s constitutional declaration.
The square remained peaceful going into Tuesday afternoon, but clashes continued around Simon Bolivar Square, where young men and security forces threw rocks at each other and the security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
Other groups and movements such as Al-Dostour Party and the Popular Current planned additional marches scheduled to converge on Tahrir Square from different Cairo neighbourhoods after 5pm.
