Egypt anti-government protests grow

[butchersapron]

Potential fractures in semi-independent bodies - leaving gaps and vacuums that i expect Morsi will be very happy to fill with 'emergency' appointments of his own.

 

[elbows]

Or ripening conditions for a coup, we shall see.

 

[teqniq]

Despite the curfew there is a march headed for the Presidential palace (where more walls are busily being built). Some Egyptians have taken to calling Morsi 'The spare tyre' .With this in mind:

lilianwagdy: A man in Raba'a march carrying a spare tyre in reference to Morsi http://twitter.com/lilianwagdy/status/276718323960537088/photo/1

 

[elbows]

Others are calling him Morsillini.

 

[elbows]

Apparently a well-known MB figure in Alexandria had his car smashed and was beaten up last night. Reports vary but the MB said this:

‏@RawyaRageh
#MB statement says leading #Alexandria figure Sobhi Saleh was attacked 'in attempt to kill him by putting him on railway tracks'#Egypt

 

[elbows]

Oh dear.

‏@RobertMackey
Morsi says opposition must be punished for paying thugs, handing out firearms; proves his recent events show his recent decree was necessary

@iyad_elbaghdadi
#Morsi: The ex-regime is still conspiring and having secret meetings.#Egypt

@iyad_elbaghdadi
#Morsi: The reason behind the constitutional declaration was to protect #Egypt from their conspiracies. #Egypt
‏@liamstack
#morsi says those arrested last night have already confessed to being part of a "5th column" paid to cause trouble & named their paymasters

 

[butchersapron]

Just like in Iran. Put them on tv to confess!

 

[teqniq]

That went well, as evinced by this tweet:

The chants of er7al (Leave) now ringing out by just about everybody here

 

[elbows]

His message was mostly aimed at his base and those sitting on the sidelines.

Meanwhile.

‏@Asimhaneef
Khairy Ramadan, resigns on air, leave his desk because he says, " The management of CBC does NOT want Hamdeen Sabahi on air"

 

[dylans]

Or ripening conditions for a coup, we shall see.

I think this is a serious possibility. There are mass demonstrations called by both sides tomorrow and further street conflict seems inevitable. Given that we saw the first use of arms by the MB yesterday, it looks likely to be bloody. We should not forget that Morsi still enjoys considerable mass support and it is by no means certain that the anti Morsi forces can win a street battle if the full force of the MB are unleashed.

In that context I could see the military imposing a counter revolutionary solution by taking power through a coup in the guise of public order. The anti Morsi forces also include a significant section of the anti revolutionary/pro Mubarak section of the populace. In the case of a coup I can see the likes of Amr Mousa and the remnants of the felool supporting a coup and claiming it is acting with popular support.

Alternatively,if Morsi comes out of this intact and especially if his constitutional referendum is won (which is a serious possibility) I can see Morsi moving to repress the opposition by painting it as counter revolutionary and himself as the revolutions defender. He threatened as much in his speech today. The fate of the revolution hangs in the balance and may be decided in the streets tomorrow.

 

[elbows]

A variety of interesting little details in this piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/w...-secular-opponents-clashes.html?smid=tw-share

The director of state broadcasting resigned Thursday, as did Rafik Habib, a Christian who was the vice president of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the party’s favorite example of its commitment to tolerance and pluralism. Their departures followed an announcement by Zaghoul el-Balshi, the new general secretary of the commission overseeing a planned constitutional referendum, that he was quitting. “I will not participate in a referendum that spilled Egyptian blood,” he said in a television interview during the clashes late Wednesday night.​

With the resignations on Thursday, nine Morsi administration officials have quit in protest in recent days.​

The Egyptian military, which seized power from Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, saying it was stepping in to protect the legitimate demands of the public, stayed silent after a statement Wednesday that it would not intervene in a dispute between political factions. The presidential guard that deployed Thursday is a separate unit that reports directly to the president.

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a popular former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who ran for president as a liberal Islamist and has stayed on the sidelines of the escalating conflict between Mr. Morsi and his secular opponents, slammed the president and the Brotherhood for calling on their civilian supporters to defend the palace with force rather than relying the institutions of law enforcement.
“The palace is not a private property to the Muslim Brotherhood or Dr. Morsi; it belongs to us, all Egyptians,” Mr. Aboul Fotouh said in a televised news conference. He was flanked by a Morsi adviser who had just resigned and by a well-known revolutionary poet who is the son of Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, perhaps the most influential religious scholar in the Sunni Muslim world and a spiritual guru to the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

[teqniq]

Around 50 protesters are being held in Heliopolis police department, many of them in urgent need of medical care.

Eyewitness Angy Naguib said 49 severely beaten protesters have been bleeding since 2 am. “The least injured has seven to nine wounds from jackknives,” Naguib said. Naguib works for a campaign called Ifrag, which tries to release military detainees, and works with groups like No Military Trials for civilians.

She said that protesters were held in the palace overnight, where they have been held for over seven hours. Among them is Yehia Negm, a former Egyptian Ambassador to Venezuela. “They’re being described as thugs, Yehia was an ambassador. He lived in exile for years and returned to Egypt only a few months ago,” Naguib said.

A picture of Negm’s beaten up face has circulated on social media but Naguib says that it merely shows 10 percent of his injuries “and he is one of the least injured.”

Egyptocracy: Ex Ambassador Negm, captured and beaten by #MB, arriving at interrogation
“@NadimX: السفير يحيى نجم اول ما وصل http://twitter.com/NadimX/status/276834884671135744/photo/1”

#Egypt

http://dailynewsegypt.com/2012/12/06/injured-detainees-in-dire-condition/

 

[dylans]

Muslim Brotherhood celebrating victory in wednesday nights street battles. 7 dead and 650 injured. The MB street fighters are more numerous, better organised and better armed than the opposition. Things don't look good.

 

[Random]

Will the military dare carry out a coup against an armed and mobilised Brotherhood? This latest conflict has probably unified the Islamists too, for now.

 

[butchersapron]

No. They have no need to.

(Little lefty sectarian stuff, whilst the SWP welcomed and called for a vote for Morsi, the counterfire split have been warning people off supporting anti-Morsi opposition for being secretly pro-mubark forces - exactly as Morsi and his propaganda has suggested)

 

[Random]

No. They have no need to.

(Little lefty sectarian stuff, whilst the SWP welcomed and called for a vote for Morsi, the counterfire split have been warning people off supporting anti-Morsi opposition for being secretly pro-mubark forces - exactly as Morsi and his propaganda has suggested)

Not completely little; weren't the STWC involved in some big meetings in Egypt a couple of years ago?

The Counterfire lot will of course have years behind them of enthusiastically working with the MB's British wing, the "Muslim Association of Britain". I worked with them too, 2001ish to 2003.

 

[butchersapron]

The Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt were the ones who called for a Morsi vote (on basis of acting as progressive bulwark against old regime and military and his/their openess/weakness to pressure from the left/street) - that's what i meant by SWP. And the 'little' thing just meant, in passing or as an aside, nothing else.

 

[Random]

I take your point. That RS position when it was a choice between MB and the military, I can understand.

 

[elbows]

My comment about coup yesterday wasnt supposed to be a prediction. The military seemed rather uncomfortable in the limelight and a democratic veneer is usually considered preferable, especially in this age. And we've seen greater violence than there was this week without any wider implications kicking in. However as usual a lack of knowledge about certain possible factions within the military and other sections of the elite rather gets in the way of attempts to predict dramatic developments.

I suppose what is different this time is that we now have a potential alignment between former regime elements and a variety of other political and street movements, with MB & all but the most moderate/liberal Islamic groups on the other side. The number of people resigning from media positions this week caught my eye and made me ponder a possible escalation, but at this point its quite possible that despite the violence the referendum will go ahead and I've no idea what the result may be.

If Egypt manages to stumble though the tense constitutional debate without significant new developments, then I'm more inclined to look towards economic issues being the eventual source of a sustained attempt to clamp down and 'bring unity' to the nation. I havent found a full translation of Morsi's speech from last night but I thought that during the section where he was going on about what peaceful protest rights people had, he mentioned 'so long as it doesnt interfere with production'. So I guess they still have a problem with strikes. And as the IMF, currency & fuel subsidy stuff is yet to reach its peak of pain, there is plenty more potential for unrest ahead.

As for todays developments, numbers on the streets dont sound too staggering from what I've read so far, and much of the other news seems to be various groups rejecting Morsi's 'Saturday talks'.

 

[butchersapron]

Cheers to Paul for noticing it - burnt out MB offices in alex with red and black.

 

[teqniq]

Stuff like this looks set to make matters much worse:

Al-Masry Al-Youm goes inside the Brotherhood's torture chambers

Al-Masry Al-Youm spent three hours Wednesday night in a Muslim Brotherhood torture chamber at the presidential palace. The central chamber was located at the gate of the palace in front of Omar bin Abdel Aziz Mosque on Merghany Street. The chamber was cordoned by iron barriers and Central Security Forces, who only allowed this reporter access after a colleague from Misr 25 satellite channel, owned by the Brotherhood, intervened....

E2A Protests are ongoing in a number of places today with beatings and hospitalisation courtesy of the police

 

[dylans]

Live stream here of the absolutely massive demonstration outside the Presidential Palace.

http://www.ontv-live.com/live/

 

[IC3D]

Tahrir bodyguard mobilising to prevent sexual assaults during protests

Last Friday, over 300 men and women volunteers donned the reflective neon safety vests, helmets, and T-shirts proclaiming Tahrir a "safe square for all." They stood at every checkpoint, atop watchtowers, and in the crowd. Members of another new group, Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment, passed out hotline numbers and instructions on handling rape trauma victims. A 22-year-old named Yasmine Abdelhamid said it was the first time since the uprising that she felt it was safe for her to protest in Tahrir Square again.

Another interesting use of twitter in Egypt

 

[dylans]

Mahalla has kicked out the city council and declared themselves "autonomous from the Ikwan state" There are also reports of demonstrations in Assuit, Beheira, Kafr El Sheikh, Port Said, Minia, Suez, luxor, hurghada and Alex.

Zakazik is Morsi's hometown and there are reports of fighting there.

 

[dylans]

Bit more on Mahalla here

Protesters in the the industrial city of Mahalla in the western Delta governorate of Gharbiya hung a sign on the gate of the city council that says ‘the Front of Revolutionary Salvation’ after breaking into it, according to journalist Caroline Kamel.

She told Ahram Online that some of the protesters outside the council, whom she estimates at thousands, persuaded those who broke into the city council to protest outside the building. She also said that entrances and exits of the city have been blocked by protesters who are calling for civil disobedience as tensions escalate.

 

[dylans]

Brotherhood mobilising outside Raba'a Al-Adawiyya mosque in Nasr City about an hour away from the Presidential Palace, after the MB issue a call for counter demonstrations.

MB attendance is compulsory (Translation from their facebook page)
Move quickly to urgent critical presence in front of the mosque, the merciful with Salah Salem now forbidden failure no excuses and inaction or go off to media production city gate 4 in a sit-in with are resolute by every brother and sister publication news now at full speed all runs press now

 

[Divisive Cotton]

I keep reading that the industrial town of Mahalla lead by the textile workers has declared "independence". Any news on this? The problem with the current news coverage is that anything outside of Cairo is either ignored or barely mentioned and the revolt is happening in many different regions.


edit: just read above

 

[Divisive Cotton]

What's the al jazeera news coverage been like? I might have to start watching their news

 

[teqniq]

It's been slated as being pro-MB by some of the anti-MB protestors

E2A this is worth a read:

Why the Anti-Mursi Protesters Are Right

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Have a read of this timeline of yesterdays events. You know that when matters change every hour that there is serious and widespread street / workplace politics at play:

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCon...es-Tens-of-thousands-of-antiMorsi-protes.aspx

20:20 Thousands of protesters in the industrial city of Mahalla in the western Delta governorate of Gharbiya have announced the city “independent” from the state’s authority and that they will elect a “revolutionary council” to handle the city’s affairs. Meanwhile, protesters are still blocking entrances and exits to the city.
Political forces reportedly involved in the Mahalla rebellion include: The Free Egyptians Party, Constitution Party, Strong Egypt Party, Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Popular Current and socialist activists.