Thousands of the supporters of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik gathered Saturday afternoon at the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City
Thousands of the supporters of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik gathered Saturday afternoon at the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City, raising Egyptian flags and banners in support of Shafik and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, SCAF.
The banners read: “Egypt above all,” and the protesters chanted “Long live Egypt,” and “The people and the military are one hand.”
The demonstration, which extended over the length of some eight kilometres of the Autostrad road, caused traffic to come to a halt over the highway.
Protester criticised the fact that the Islamists had announced that their candidate for the presidential race, Mohamed Mursi, just four hours into the vote count, and insisted he was the winner even though the official results were not announced.
Meanwhile, thousands of anti-SCAF protesters gathered in Tahrir Square raising Egyptian flags and calling for an end to the military rule in Egypt, a few days after the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the [Islamist-majority] parliament should be dissolved. The demonstrators also protested against the constituional declaration SCAF had issued in the wake of the failure of the political forces in Egypt–majpr among them are the Islamists–to come up with a new constitution. The declaration gives wide legislative and executive powers to the military.
As Egyptians await the result of the presidential race, to be announced shortly, there has been wide, vociferous criticism by liberal, secular forces, and Shafik supporters against the what they saw as flagrant US interference in Egyptian affairs, and the by-now obvious US alliance with the Islamist forces in Egypt. Egyptians resent this and see it as an attempt to divode the country along sectarian lines, to serve US interests in the Middle East.
Watani International
24 June 2012