(Photo Courtesy of Tamrod campaign)
Tamarod campaign announced on Sunday it had collected 2,029,592 signatures throughout Egypt, withdrawing confidence in Mohamed Morsi as president.
Tamarod, or “Rebellion”, is a petition campaign that was launched in late April to gather signatures disapproving of President Morsi. The campaign is also calling for early presidential elections.
In the campaign’s first press conference, held on Sunday, its members announced the two million signatures were collected in 10 days alone. Campaign spokesperson Mahmoud Badr said that the signatures proved the people have started to lose their confidence in Morsi.
“If you are confident about your popularity, hold early presidential elections,” Badr said, addressing President Morsi and his aides.
Campaign members also called on all opposition movements to hold onto their initial decision to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Badr also commented on Minister of Defense Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi’s latest statements. The defense minister said on Saturday that the army was not the solution to the current political issues the country faces, and that it would not resort to policing the streets. He also dismissed the possibility of the military forcefully removing Morsi.
“Our campaign doesn’t call for a military coup,” the Tamarod spokesperson said. “We call on people to turn against the president and withdraw their confidence in him since he betrayed his agreement with the people.”
Meanwhile at Cairo University, campaign members collecting signatures were subjected to harassment by alleged Muslim Brotherhood affiliates. Mahmoud Hussein, campaign coordinator in Giza, said four campaign members were shortly held at a university security office after going to the security officials to complain about the harassment.
Tamarod was launched two weeks ago by members of Kefaya. The campaign is aiming to collect 15 million signatures before 30 June, the day that will mark Morsi’s one year anniversary in power. Several opposition groups announced their solidarity with the campaign including the 6 April Youth Movements, both the Democratic and Ahmed Maher fronts.
“Our campaign will succeed,” Badr said during the press conference. “On 30 June, we will be at the [Presidential] Palace with 15 million signatures.”
