Egyptian Protests continue amid tight security measures

Egypt’s National Alliance to Support Legitimacy organized mass protests on Friday to commemorate one hundred days since the military coup led by Defence Minister General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on 3 July.

The Alliance urged Egyptians to gather in the Roxy Square in Heliopolis, El-Maadi Corniche in Cairo and Mahatta Square in the Giza Governorate, all major squares in the greater Cairo area.

A statement issued by the Alliance on Thursday asserted that the one hundred days since the coup have “revealed nothing but the suppression of freedoms and demonstrations, the violation of human rights and threats to Egypt’s national security. The political situation has reached a deadlock while coup authorities make suspicious constitutional amendments amidst the deteriorating economic and social conditions.”

Since Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup on 3 July, the Alliance has organized widespread protests across the country, some of which have been violently suppressed by the Egyptian security forces. The latest massacre was on 6 October when dozens were killed in Cairo.

The Alliance and other organizations believe that the protests will continue until the overthrow of the coup and the return of constitutional legitimacy. Meanwhile, the military backed government has revealed its intention to proceed with the implementation of its “Map of the Future” plan, according to General Al-Sisi.

Earlier this week, Egypt’s Rebels Alliance had called for a demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on the second day of the Al-Adha feast, but the military and security forces closed all the streets leading to the Square and other areas in greater Cairo, including Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square and Mustafa Mahmoud Square. Anti-coup protesters had managed earlier this month to reach Tahrir Square, but security forces quickly evacuated them by force.

A curfew from midnight to five o’clock in the morning has been imposed in Cairo and 13 other provinces for two months now and was not eased despite the Al-Adha holiday. The interim Interior Ministry has also reiterated that it will continue to take firm measures to suppress any opposition demonstrations, claiming that they may pose a threat to public order.

However Sheikh Ahmed Mahlawi, Chairman of Alexandria Muslims Association and a preacher at the Ibrahim Mosque, told coup leaders that demonstrations will not stop and the coup will eventually collapse because the people will continue to resist it.