The Anti-Coup alliance called for a million-man protest on the first Friday of 2014 under the banner of “The People [Fire Up] their Revolution”, in a statement issued on Thursday.
The Alliance said that Friday’s protests “are in preparation for an imposing million-man protest on Wednesday, under the banner ‘the people defend their president'”. Wednesday will witness the second court session for former President Mohamed Morsi and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood members, in which they face charges of inciting violence outside the Presidential Palace on 5 December 2012, which resulted in five deaths and 693 injuries.
The Students Against the Coup (SAC) movement also called for Friday marches heading to Tahrir Square.
Meanwhile, security forces blocked entry to Tahrir Square on Friday morning, and deployed reinforcements around the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis, reported state-run Egypt News’ website.
State-owned news agency MENA reported that Giza’s Al-Nahda square, host of a pro-Morsi sit-in dispersed on 14 August 2013, was also closed by security forces.
Security forces also blocked entry to Rabaa Al-Adaweya Square.
Last Friday’s demonstrations violence left five dead, 56 injured and 265 arrested across a number of governorates.
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