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Rival protests after Eid prayers in Giza
[Al Ahram] In Giza's Istiqama mosque, which lies in the district's main square, rival protests broke out after Eid prayers early on Tuesday morning, as supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Timeprinciple, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... exchanged chants with supporters of army chief and Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Worshipers observing the holy Eid Al-Adha feast, where Musselmens commemorate Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for God only to be given a lamb to sacrifice instead, broke out in pro-Morsi and Islamist chants while their opponents chanted in support of El-Sisi -- the army commander who led Morsi's removal from office in July after mass protests against his rule. The protest erupted when some worshipers exiting the mosque flashed a pro-Morsi hand sign to camera crews gathered on top of an overpass covering the prayers. The sign remembers the pro-Morsi sit-in at Cairo's Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square, which was dispersed by police in mid-August leaving hundreds dead. Protesters either gesture it or carry a famous yellow poster bearing a black hand making the sign. As a crowd spontaneously formed below the cameras, chants broke out repeating the name Rabaa and against the army. "Abdel-Fattah [El-Sisi] is the slayer," they chanted, while opponents of Morsi gathered on the other side of a metal railing encircling the mosque and started shouting, "We love you Sisi." Both protests constituted a small fraction of worshipers. Eventually dozens more joined the pro-Morsi protest and yellow signs started appearing. "When something is stolen from you you must bring it back peacefully," Asmaa Abdel-Aziz, a state employee, told Ahram Online, saying that Islamists are not forces of Evil and insisting that Morsi was on his way to doing great things for Egypt. Ramy, a young man standing in between both groups wearing an expression of consternation, disagreed with Asmaa and said he did not approve of the actions of Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund during its year in power. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... Ramy was worried protesters on both sides would engage in violence. "Everyone should have the right to freedom of expression, I just hope this remains peaceful," he said. Posted by: Fred 2013-10-16 |
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