Egypt: Protests spark violence
2005-08-01 11:12
Cairo - Egyptian opposition demonstrators said on Sunday they were already feeling a predicted domestic backlash of the Sharm el-Sheikh terrorist attacks, a day after police violently repressed an anti-regime protest.
Security forces backed by men armed with bludgeons charged a group of around 200 demonstrators who were protesting on Saturday against President Hosni Mubarak's intention to seek a fifth six-year term in office.
Several leaders of the Kefaya (Enough) movement - which has spearheaded Egypt's unprecedented wave of anti-Mubarak demonstrations this year - were briefly detained.
But 21 other protestors remained in custody the next day.
Demanding the release of protestors
As Kefaya supporters staged an all-night sit-in to demand their release, some argued that the deadly July 23 triple bomb attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh had given the regime an excuse to get tough.
"After Sharm el-Sheikh, the West will feel it is not the right moment to let Mubarak down," said demonstrator and journalist Tareq Munir, predicting little international condemnation of Saturday's violence.
Kefaya and other satellite movements have organised several protests in different Cairo neighbourhoods which security forces allowed to take place peacefully.
"I think today is a turning point in the regime's attitude. They became very aggressive again just when we thought they were softening up. I think they want to crush the democracy movement but they can't," said Kefaya spokesperson George Ishak.
Saturday's protest was joined at one point by several leading members of the Ghad (Tomorrow) party headed by Ayman Nur, Mubarak's most serious opponent in the September 7 presidential poll.
Several activists were reporting leaks that the authorities had drawn up a list of prominent anti-Mubarak activists and predicted a large wave of arrests before the election.
A violent regime
"In a country like Egypt, the attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh are a license for the regime to be violent against whoever they wish in the name of the war on terrorism," said Khaled el-Sawy, a famous Egyptian actor and Kefaya supporter.
"In addition to this, Egypt may occasionally have to play the democracy game to please the West but this brutal behaviour is the regime's real face," he added.
As protestors camped out on the steps of the journalists' union overnight, El-Sawy and other activists tried to rally to their cause to the hundreds of policemen surrounding them.
Commentators had warned that, while destabilising the regime, the attacks would also deal a blow to the opposition and further dampen the Egyptian authorities' half-hearted democratic overtures.
"Given that one of the long-standing demands of all reforming currents in Egypt has been for the lifting of emergency law, it's natural to assume this event will be used by the authorities to bolster their resistance to that demand," said analyst Hugh Roberts.