CAIRO: Thousands of protesters in Qena called on Thursday for the prosecution of Deputy Prime Minister Yehia El-Gamal and accused Minister of Interior Mansour El-Essawy of inciting tribal violence.
Since Friday, thousands have been protesting in the Upper Egyptian governorate against the appointment of governor Emad Shehata Mikhael, with some objecting to his career as a policeman and others objecting to him being Christian.
On Wednesday, the protesters opened the Cairo-Aswan highway, but continued to close off the railway roads, paralyzing the movement of trains in and out of the city, according to residents.
Eyewitnesses in Qena told DNE over the phone that El-Essawy incited Al-Ashraaf tribe, one of the most powerful in Qena, to force the protesters blocking the railway roads to leave.
According to residents, the railway roads are in the territory of Al-Ashraaf tribe.
“I don’t believe Al-Ashraaf tribe will go along with this because the sons of many other tribes are sleeping on the railway roads,” former independent MP in Qena, Laila Mahmoud, told Daily News Egypt. “This would cause a blood bath between the tribes and Al-Ashraaf knows better than to do that,” she added.
“We have nine districts in Qena and the protesters come from all these districts,” Mahmoud said. “The government has no option here but to change the governor.”
Mahmoud argued that even if the government succeeded in ending the protests, it wouldn’t be able to protect the governor during his reign. She added that the governor wouldn’t be able to function with people who reject him.
Earlier on Thursday, protesters prevented Mikhael’s secretary from entering the government’s headquarters’ to take over responsibilities of his new post.
Protesters said that their previous experience with General Magdy Ayoub — the former governor who was also Christian — proved his failure in running the governorate and dealing with sectarian issues.
A member of the Coalition of Freedom in Qena who took part in the protests, Abdel Baaset Karim, said an official in Qena’s security directorate told him that the police forces would let Al-Ashraaf tribe deal with protesters.
Karim and other protesters said that Al-Ashraaf tribe was dominated by former members of the National Democratic Party. However, Karim agreed with Mahmoud that Al-Ashraaf tribe was “not stupid to take such an action against protesters.”
“This is political stupidity on behalf of the government; it should just change the governor and avoid repeating the same mistakes made by the former regime,” Karim said.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet rejected the protesters demands to sack Mikhael. "The governor of Qena has not and will not resign and there are no alternatives. Objections (to someone) based on religion are unacceptable," said cabinet spokesman Ahmed Al-Saman.
On Tuesday, El-Gamal said that the governor will be staying in his post. The people of Qena believe that El-Gamal is the main reason Mikhail’s hasn’t resigned yet, according to Mahmoud and Karim.
The Cabinet delegated the interior ministry to handle the crisis and guarantee security and the natural flow of public utilities as well as deal with any illegal actions, according to a statement issued on its Facebook page on Wednesday.
The Cabinet added that it would take all necessary measures to restore stability and security and implement the rule of law, stressing that it “respects the citizens’ rights to peaceful demonstration and freedom of expression.”
El-Essawy’s visit to Qena this week along with other officials failed to calm the protesters and convince them to end the sit in.
The protesters have called for a million man march on Friday in the main square in Qena to reaffirm their demands.
However, Karim said that he would not attend the mass protests because he was against closing the railway roads and paralyzing movement in Qena.
Political activist and member of Al-Karama Party (under formation), Ahmed Kamal, said that the protesters were divided after the Cabinet’s statement.
Some are urging the protesters to remain in-front of the governorate headquarters while opening the railway roads and others insist that closing off the railway roads is the only way they’ll be heard by the government. –Additional reporting by AFP.
