Egypt’s political polarisation was embodied in the reactions of various parties on the two-year anniversary of the 25 January Revolution.
National Salvation Front (NSF), which called for massive demonstrations in Tahrir Square, thanked opposition protestors for “courage and responsibility of the Egyptian people who came out by the thousands in peaceful demonstrations,” and said those in the square and around the country had loudly voiced their rejection of a Brotherhood-dominated state and the political polarisation that it instigated.
The NSF also held President Mohamed Morsy responsible for the Ministry of Interior’s inability to respect the right of protestors to demonstrate peacefully and accused the government of political bias when deciding to crack down on demonstrations.
The Front also reiterated its demand for the president to suspend the “defective constitution” in order to promote reconciliation and free and fair parliamentary elections. The NSF also called on Morsy to form a government based on merit and not on individuals’ memberships of any particular group.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which did not call for demonstrations on Friday, dismissed the day’s events as unconstructive vandalism and sabotage.
The party’s vice-chairman Essam Al-Erian released a statement on its website saying: “Absurdly, certain political parties are using these events in hope of achieving gains in forthcoming parliamentary elections.”
He added: “Some reject democratic elections altogether while some are desperately trying to derail the revolution.”
The headline of the FJP newspaper’s front page on Saturday read “crimes in the revolution’s anniversary” while juxtaposing images of party members participating in community service, a protestor holding a tear gas canister, and an image of protestors in Tahrir Square. The three images were labeled “building,” “destruction,” and “protesting” respectively.
Salafi Al-Nour Party Chairman Younis Makhyoun condemned the violence, saying an attack on security forces is an attack on Egyptians. He stressed that those who sought to demolish state institutions did so to spread chaos and exploit it for political purposes.
Ahmed Maher’s 6 April Youth Movement said it would continue to mobilise on the streets to communicate the goals of the 25 January revolution. The group demanded that Morsy implement a strategy unite political powers to amend the recently-passed constitution.
