Friday, April 20, 2012

#April20 in #Tahrir : Too many Stages , Too many Goals , too Many hopes and Fears

And Tahrir square will witness a big protest which hopefully will unit all the political powers in Egypt whether Islamist or non Islamist after months of fighting each other politically whether directly or indirectly. This is considered the first Friday since September 2011 to include both Islamist and Non Islamist forces. Some people are really putting high hopes that this protest will close the gap between the different political parties and powers in the country.

Nearly 40 parties and powers declared their participation already in the big Tahrir Protest with so many names as usual. The Muslim brotherhood called it “The determination Friday” while Revolution Youth Coalition and Maserna called it “ No for constitution under the military rule”.

There will marches from all over Cairo and Giza that will head to Tahrir square. There will be at least 4 marches from Cairo and Giza that will meet at 3:30 PM and 4 PM CLT at Kasr Al Nil bridge.

Potential presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi will head a march from Dokki to Tahrir square while Potential presidential candidate Khaled Ali will pray at Mostafa Mahmoud mosque and head the march from there to Tahrir square. Speaking about presidential campaigns , Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotoh Campaign will participate in the protest while he will tour the Northern villages of Giza. Needless to say the MB will campaign for Mohamed Morsi in the square like El Shater last week.

The Non Islamist parties and movements that are going to participate in the protest include : Revolution Youth coalition , April 6th Youth “Ahmed Maher Front and Democratic Front” , Maserna Movement , El Adl Party , Egyptian Social Democratic Party , Socialist Popular alliance party 

The Islamist parties that are going to participate in the protest are : Freedom and Justice party ,Al Asala Party , The Salafist Front , Al Gama’a Al Islamiyya and Al Fadila party.

Now it is said that this is a unity Friday yet strangely nobody knows the true united goals of this Friday because it seems that everybody has its goals aside from ending the military rule.

The Revolution Youth Coalition , April 6th Youth movement , Masrena Movement , Abu El Fotoh campaign, El Tayar Misry Party and Al Wasat Party issued a list for their demands which I think most Egyptians will agree upon : Issuing Disfranchisement law  , ending the emergency law status and military trials for civilians , having a real constituent assembly that represent all Egyptians.

The Muslim brotherhood issued a statement on Wednesday about what they want from the protest and they were clear : They want to form the government , have presidential elections in time and they want people to elect their presidential candidate !!

The Salafist Front issued a strong statement criticizing SCAF for dividing the political powers in Egypt and stating that the former regime icons are trying to get control of the country. I am quite surprised of their statement.

Al Nour party’s position is unclear , they said that its members are free to do what they want. Without doubt its members and supporters will go to Tahrir square to support Abu Ismail and his boys.

Abu Ismail boys can say what they want , we all know that if the man was going to continue the race we would not have seen them in square like that.

There is a big fear that there will be another Islamist show off protest and that the MB sells the revolutionaries and liberal parties once again for their own goals and this is why you will find many activists and protesters individually are not encourage to go to the protest despite all the good talk about unity.

MP Mostafa El Naggar told me already that he will leave if he finds the protest turned in to Islamist show especially if Abu Ismail’s supporters take over the protest.

Another fear among non Islamist activists is the clashes or the overreaction and enthusiasm of Hazem Abu Ismail’s supporters who are mad on how he was excluded from the elections.

Despite Abu Ismail boys are not responsible for what happened in October bridge last night yet there are fears that they may escalate their protest especially after this post of TV host Abdel Rahman Ezz who supports Abu Ismail and included a plan to close October 6 bridge and besieging the Egyptian National TV.

It is worth to mention that April 20 protest was originally planned by non Islamist forces.

It is 12:12 AM currently and according to eye witnesses there are 6 stages , one of them is for the Muslim brotherhood , another is for Abu Ismail supporters who moved their sit in from the Presidential elections committee “PEC” in Heliopolis to Tahrir square. 6 Stages !! This is so much for unity !!

Already right now there are hundreds of protesters in Tahrir square whom some of them are actually chanting anti-MB slogans from now. “Sell, sell the revolution Badie” They say and Badie as in Mohamed Badie , the Supreme guide of Muslim brotherhood.

Of course one must wonder why SCAF has not got a stage there already.

Insh Allah I will be covering the protest live after few hours.

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