After the anti-government protests in several Egyptian cities, police have massively increased their numbers in Cairo. Yesterday, numerous security forces were deployed on the iconic Tahrir Square and in the Old Town. The initiator of the protest, the Egyptian entrepreneur Mohamed Ali, who lives in Spain, called for new mass protests on Friday.
Police used tear gas
In a protest that was rare for Egypt, demonstrations against the government of head of state Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had been held in several cities since Friday night. In Cairo alone, hundreds of people took to the streets, and dozens gathered in Tahrir Square, the scene of weeks of mass protests that had driven out long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak from office eight years ago.
The police used tear gas against the demonstrators to stop the rally. At least 74 people were arrested, according to security sources.
Injured in Sues
In the northern Egyptian city of Suez, people took to the streets for the second day in a row yesterday. A protest participant reported about 200 demonstrators. According to the police, teargas and rubber bullets were also used there. Several people were injured. A resident reported that tear gas penetrated to her apartment a few miles from the city center.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Egyptian authorities to „protect the right to peaceful protest“ and release the arrested demonstrators.
Call for „million march“
Protest initiator Ali accuses the military and the head of state of corruption and calls for its overthrow. For the coming Friday Ali called the Egyptians to new mass protests. In a „million-march“ the demonstrators should occupy central places in the cities of the country, demanded Ali in the on-line service Facebook. It was a „people’s revolution,“ he wrote.
President Sisi had firmly rejected the corruption allegations. „These are lies whose goal is to break the will of the Egyptians and make them lose all hope and confidence in themselves,“ he criticized a week ago at a youth congress in Cairo. He warned young people there about the possible dangers of government-critical expressions of opinion.
