Hundreds Chant Against Morsi On 2nd Anniversary Of Mubarak Ouster
Hundreds of protesters in Cairo and other governorates took part in planned anti-government marches marking the second anniversary of former president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.
In downtown Cairo, dozens set out from the Fatah Mosque at 5pm towards Tahrir Square, chanting “Down with the rule of the [Muslim Brotherhood] supreme guide.”
At the nearby Sayida Zeinab Mosque, the meeting point for another march, hundreds set out for the iconic square at around 5:40pm.
In addition to the planned marches, hundreds of protesters gathered in Tahrir, repeating chants against the Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party.
The main stage in the square showed the now-famous television statement in which then-vice president Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had stepped down after 18 days of popular protests.
Two other marches are planned to set out for the Presidential Palace from the Nour Mosque in Abbasiya and the Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City. As of 6:30pm, around 200 protesters had reportedly gathered in front of the Nour Mosque carrying flags bearing the slogan of the Egyptian Popular Current movement.
Dozens of university students in the cities of Kafr El-Sheikh and Alexandria also staged marches in response to protest calls. In Kafr El-Sheikh, protesters marched on the office of the Brotherhood-affiliated provincial governor to demand his resignation.
Earlier on Monday in Cairo, anti-Morsi protesters blocked the Sadat Metro Station in Tahrir Square and the nearby 6 October Bridge. Protesters also surrounded the Mogamma building, blocking the country’s largest administrative centre for the second consecutive day.
Egypt’s security forces were on high alert Monday ahead of the planned protests, as the country has been facing violent protests since the second anniversary of Egypt’s 25 January Revolution.
Political parties and movements to have endorsed Monday’s rallies include: the Socialist Popular Alliance, the Youth for Justice and Freedom Movement, the Constitution Party, the Popular Movement for the Independence of Al-Azhar, the Karama Party, the Free Front for Peaceful Change, the Maspero Youth Union, the Arab Revolution Youth Movement, the Revolutionary Socialists, the Egyptian Popular Current, the Egypt Freedom Party, the National Association for Change and the Kefaya movement.
Among key demands of Monday’s protests are a new unity government, constitutional amendments and the dismissal of Egypt’s Morsi-appointed prosecutor-general.
Ahram
