The 6 April Youth Movement released a statement on Thursday announcing they were not participating in Friday “anti-terrorism” protests.
Minister of Defence Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi had called on Egyptians to take to the streets on Friday to delegate him to confront “violence and terrorism”.
6 April stated that the armed forces didn’t need a mandate to protect the people or confront violence, “the security of the state is your [the armed forces] obligation according to the law and the constitution and any laxity in doing so… is a crime and any use of excessive force or infringement on civil liberties under the pretext of fighting terrorism is even a bigger crime,” the statement read.
They added that the people are all against terrorism and have repeatedly called on the police and the army to fight it; however, the objective of calling for demonstrations seems either to convey a picture to foreign countries or address the west at the expense of the crowds, which is an insult to the people, the movement said.
They listed other reasons for not participating in the protests or delegating Al-Sisi against terrorism; they said the use of an “elastic” term like combating terrorism may entail suppressing freedoms and eliminating political rivals.
“The US occupied Afghanistan and Iraq under the claim of fighting terrorism and Bashar killed his people under the same claim,” the statement read.
6 April said the word “delegation” may entail extraordinary or unknown measures that the army didn’t announce anything about.
They added that they will not take part in a semi-official call from the state to take to the streets in “a protest called for by the army and supported by media, we protest only when we see it necessary.”
