Spokesperson of the Ghalaba Movement (“Movement of the Poor”) Yasser El-Omda denied on Wednesday evening that he called for the delay of the 11/11 protests to 8 December.
In a video published on the Ghalaba Movement Facebook page, El-Omda assured that protests will be held on Friday and that security apparatuses had fabricated a false statement that called on Facebook users to follow a new protest call next month.
On Wednesday afternoon, several administrators of pages calling for protests on 11 November published posts that announced the suspension of their work and the postponement of protests due to threats from security apparatuses.
The post El-Omda described as “fabricated” read: “We deeply thank you for your participation during the last period on the movement’s page that has been circulated internationally. It was observed that the coup and army devils are violently hurting the movement’s supporters, using their weapons to kill them. For the sake of preserving and continuing the revolution, the movement’s pages will be closed.”
The alleged statement announced that a new page will be established entitled “8/12 Movement” which will resume calls for protests on 8 December. The new page aims to restore legitimacy and reinstate ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
“To avoid the current regime’s oppression to the pages’ administrators, follow us on the newly established one entitled ‘8/12’ to continue the revolution,” it added.
The 11/11 protest calls caused speculation as to the identity of the instigators and their goals. The Facebook event has gained almost 100,000 followers since it was launched in September. According to what can be gleamed from posts published on the page, no single political movement seems to be the instigator, but rather the movement identifies itself as independent.
El-Omda, who in a recent interview with private newspaper El-Nabaa said that he is currently based in Turkey, was identified as the official spokesperson for the movement.
He introduced himself as a poet who participated in the 25 January Revolution and considers the 30 June uprising to be a “military coup under civil rule”. He claimed that he is the only instigator of the calls to protest on Friday and that he called for a “revolution” due to deteriorating political and economic conditions in Egypt under the rule of the army.
A post published on his Facebook page uses the ongoing price hikes to galvanise citizens. The movement asserted in an earlier statement that increases in the price of goods should be met with public confrontation, adding that a number of European non-governmental organisations would be contacted about the 11/11 protests.
