What should have been a million-person demonstration last Friday, the “Friday for taking President Mursi to account” turned into a violent conflict between Mursi’s supporters, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and his opponents, the Egyptian secularists
What should have been a million-person demonstration last Friday, the “Friday for taking President Mursi to account” turned into a violent conflict between Mursi’s supporters, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and his opponents, the Egyptian secularists. The idea, propagated by secular political parties and movements, was to make a ‘statement of account, of Mursi’s first 100 days in office. While campaigning for the presidential elections last June, Mursi had promised that Egyptians would feel a marked betterment of their lives 100 days into his presidency. Now that Egypt is 100 days into Mursi’s presidency, the seculars claim the president has not made good on his promise; very little—if not next to nothing—they say has been achieved on all fronts: the security, economic or political fronts.
Islamists, however, said they would demonstrate in protest against the recent court ruling which acquitted all the officials who belonged to the former President Mubarak’s regime and who were charged with killing the demonstrators during the first week of the 25 January 2011 Revolution. The court had said in its indictment that there was no conclusive evidence to incriminate any of the defendants, and that a majority of the witnesses had criminal records.
The thousands who gathered in Tahrir Square on Friday afternoon attacked one another viciously, in total absence of any security forces. Some 43 were injured.
By nightfall, however, the demonstrators left the square.
A photo album and video coverage of the Friday event can be found on http://www.wataninet.com/watani_Article_Details.aspx?A=32134
WATANI International
13 October 2012