By Marwa Al-A’asar
CAIRO: Over 1,000 young men and women began a sit-in outside the People’s Assembly (PA) headquarters in downtown Cairo Tuesday evening demanding the ouster and prosecution of President Hosni Mubarak and his aides. By Wednesday afternoon, they were few thousands.
Most of the protesters do not belong to any political groups or parties.
“We chose this area because of its strategic importance … and to ban the MPs who won seats by vote rigging from entering the parliament building,” Ahmed Abul-Fadl told Daily News Egypt.
For Ahmed Kamal, 23, student of computer engineering, the place had a symbolic significance. “Being here means a lot because they were shooting us here on Jan. 28 and now we’ve taken this place.”
According to Abul-Fadl, the recent reforms proposed by Mubarak and Vice President Omar Suleiman are not enough.
“We call for toppling the regime and putting an end to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP),” he said. “Our demands also include drastic constitutional amendments.”
“The people have lost trust in the regime. One day after the government gave some promises, thugs attacked the Tahrir protesters riding camels and horses,” he added.
Blogger Alaa Abdel-Fatah believes that this sit-in is vital.
“This is an important escalation so that the [government and the regime] realize that we’re only relying on Tahrir protests,” Abdel-Fatah told Daily News Egypt.
“Such a move represents our revolt that derives legitimacy from the people. Now the MPs and the Prime Minister and his aides will find it difficult to enter the area and do their jobs,” he added.
Hundreds of protesters danced to anti-regime songs while others performed a symbolic zar (exorcism) to get rid of the “evil spirits”.
By midnight, some protesters could still be heard chanting anti-regime slogans.
The youths set up a check point in the street entrances, while others were distributed blankets, water and food. The morale was quite high.
“We are hoping for a better tomorrow,” one protester said, as he distributed blankets. “We believe that our actions will make some change.”
People from other governorates also joined the sit-in.
“I came from Suez especially to join this sit-in at the only place that would cause a deep impact on different levels,” Ahmed Mahmoud said.
Senior Muslim Brotherhood (MB) member Hazem Farouk was seen touring the zone with a group a little after midnight.
He told Daily News Egypt that Brotherhood members had not joined the sit-in, but were present in Tahrir.
“This move started only a few hours ago and our numbers are not enough to have us in every [protest],” Farouk said.
Early Wednesday morning a group of young people even started working out to the tunes of anti-regime songs, before leading a protest outside Cabinet near the People’s Assembly building on Qasr El-Aini Street.
Some headed to work with plans to return for another night outside parliament.
By noon, the remaining youths outside parliament were joined by a few thousand protesters from Tahrir Square, all chanting anti-Mubarak slogans.
Kamal said a sit-in in this area would prevent newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq from reaching his office.
The youth vowed to maintain the sit-in “until Mubarak goes away.”
“We won’t leave [here]; he [Mubarak] is the one to leave,” a gathering chanted. –Additional reporting by Ian Lee.
