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| Thousands Rally in Egypt's Tahrir Square for Reforms | |||
| 2011-09-10 | |||
| [An Nahar] Thousands of protesters flocked to Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Friday for a rally to demand reforms as the ruling military warned it would respond harshly to any violence by activists. Organizers called the gathering to press Egypt's military rulers to keep their promises of reform after a revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in February. Protesters, gathered under a scorching sun, filled a section of the square to listen to the weekly Mohammedan prayer sermon. "It would be shame on the Egyptian people if they forget their revolution," the preacher said. He criticized some of the prosecution witnesses in the ongoing murder trial of Mubarak and his security chiefs for testifying this week that they had not been ordered to use deadly force against protesters during the revolt. "They must be charged with false testimony. How can a prosecution witness turn into a defense witness?" the holy man asked. The preacher also denounced military trials for civilians. The military, which took charge after Mubarak's ouster, has sentenced thousands of people to prison since February. Protesters rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the military ruler and current de facto head of state Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi after the sermon ended. Tantawi is set to take the witness stand Sunday when the trial of Mubarak resumes. Ibrahim Ali, an agricultural engineer, said he had come to the capital from northern Egypt to attend the rally. "None of the revolution's demands have been met," he said. "There is still injustice in the country." The military, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, said it respected the right to protest peacefully, but warned it would respond to any violence by protesters with "the utmost severity and decisiveness." The interior ministry said it had withdrawn riot cop shoppeed in Tahrir Square to allow the activists to protest unhindered, the official MENA news agency reported. Hundreds of football fans also demonstrated in front of the interior ministry near Tahrir Square to protest against Tuesday night's festivities with police in which nearly 80 people were maimed and dozens of cars torched. There were no police guards outside the ministry, leaving the protesters to scrawl anti-police slogans on its front gates. Several protesters lined up to urinate on the gate
One protester threw a glass bottle at an officer inside who peeked over the gate, yelling: "stay inside you son of a whore." But most of the protesters outside the hated ministry, whose forces largely collapsed during the revolt that overthrew Mubarak, insisted on keeping the demonstration peaceful and prevented others from carrying a ladder to the gate.
Mohsen Rady, a senior Brotherhood member, told state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? his movement, which is showing growing strains with the military, believed Egyptians were weary of protests. "People have grown bored of these demonstrations," he said.
The activists are also demanding an end to the military trials of civilians. | |||
| Posted by:Fred |