Brotherhood, Al Nour Party, Al Wasat Party to stage Friday protest in Tahrir

Several political powers and parties have called for a protest on Friday in Tahrir Square to denounce the dissolution of parliament, the new constitutional addendum issued by SCAF, and delays in the results of the presidential elections. Top on the list is the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm the Freedom and Justice Party. 

Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Muslim Brotherhood’s official spokesperson, stated on Thursday that the brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party are going to participate in Friday’s protest till the demands of the 25 January revolution demands are fully met, calling on people to join the protest as he said in his statement on the FJP’s official Facebook page.

The Brotherhood had already started a sit-in in Tahrir Square as of Wednesday in protest of reject the High Constitutional Court ruling to dissolve the People’s Assembly and its delaying the announcement of the final results of the presidential elections. They consider their candidate Mohamed Mursi the winner of the runoffs based on initial results issued earlier this week.

Al Nour Party also called on its members and supporters to join Friday’s protest in Tahrir in an official statement on Thursday, announcing its refusal of what it referred to as a coup against democratic transition.

“As a result of the decision to delay the announcement of the presidential elections’ results, something that will generate so much national mistrust the Egyptian people are concerned about the future of their revolution,” the Salafist party said. “Al Nour Party calls on its members and supporters as well other Egyptians to participate in Friday’s million man’s protest in Tahrir square to protest peacefully,” concluding by stressing the importance that the protests should remain peaceful.

The Salafist Da’wa organisation, one of the biggest Salafist groups in Egypt, also announced its participation in the protest in protest of the constitutional addendum which limits the powers of the president in a statement it issued on Thursday.

The official spokesperson of Al Wasat Party Amr Farouk announced in a statement published on the official Facebook Page of the party that Al Wasat will participate in the protest in Tahrir to object to the practices of SCAF against the democratic transition in Egypt: issuing the constitutional addendum and giving military police and intelligence the right to arrest civilians as well as dissolving parliament.

On the other hand a group of revolutionary political parties and movements announced that they are going to organise a rally from El Fatah Mosque in Ramsis Square to the High Court to Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo after the Friday prayers in protest of the addendum, the new constituent assembly to be formed by SCAF and the military police’s judicial right to arrest civilians.

Among the groups and parties participating in the rally are the 6 April Youth Movement, the Revolutionary Socialists and Socialist Popular Alliance Party. The Socialist Popular Alliance Party issued a statement on Thursday declaring that it will not participate in the sit-in in Tahrir Square or the protest organised by the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday because “it rejects the way in which the revolution is being used in electoral wars,” as their statement put it.

Some activists also declared that they will not participate in either the protest or the rally organised by revolutionary powers. Nawara Negm, for example, said, “I will not go to the protest because it is organised only for the Muslim Brotherhood’s interests and I do not trust the Muslim Brotherhood.”