Posted on 03/30/2005 11:12:29 AM PST by El_Doctor
Demonstrators have taken to the streets of several Egyptian cities to protest against the prospect of a fifth term in office for President Hosni Mubarak.
Hundreds of protesters were prevented from reaching the parliament building in Cairo by thousands of riot police.
A similar demonstration in Alexandria was called off after security forces sealed off all routes to the site.
Cairo's security chief has warned that police will no longer tolerate rallies by the Kifaya ("Enough") group.
"If we are getting to the stage of getting used to violating [the rules], then the principle is that legal regulations must be implemented," Nabil Ezzabi said in an interview on Tuesday.
Street demonstrations are officially banned in Egypt by emergency laws enacted after President Anwar Sadat's assassination in 1981.
Kifaya activitists have staged a series of rallies in the past four months calling for constitutional reform and demanding that neither Mr Mubarak - who has ruled for 24 years - nor his son Gamal should stand in September elections.
Dispersal warning
Gen Ezzabi was waiting for the Kifaya protesters on Wednesday as dozens of them headed towards the parliament building for a rally.
"I am the director of security, I order you to disperse in five minutes or else I'll take measures against you," he threatened.
Layers of riot police were deployed around the parliament building in tight formations behind metal barriers.
More evidence that freedom is contagious....
This is Just Amazing!!
Afghanistan
Ukraine
Iraq
Lebanon
Kzyrgistan
Egypt
Taiwan
Belarus
Mongolia (Reported Yesterday 5,000 Mongolians protested unfair elections)
Pro Democracy
Some are Islamo-Facsists like the Muslim Brotherhood who do NOT want a democratic Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood have been involved in terrorist attacks and some were affiliated with Al-Qieda.
From the Washington Post editorial:
""Enough," or "kifaya" in Arabic, has become the slogan and informal moniker of the Egyptian Movement for Change, which has been holding groundbreaking demonstrations in Cairo... The opposition coalition, which includes Mr. Nour's Tomorrow Party as well as nationalist and Islamist groups, offers a moderate list of demands, including the lifting of emergency laws that prevent free assembly, liberalization of restrictions on the formation of political parties and newspapers, and the release of the thousands of political prisoners Mr. Mubarak still holds."
(AM: I believe this is sufficiently exerpted for copyright purposes, but thought I might ping you.)
So, ues, El Doctor, the coalition includes terrorist supporters, but that's the nature of any anti-government movement. Will the Egyptian masses democratically choose terrorists? Contrary to what the liberals warned of the "Arab Street," I doubt it. But it is an issue.
I know Mubarak isn't the best guy in the world, but I've always thought he was better than the alternative.
No problem...It's good to remind people.
I tend to agree,
Egypt will be a prime target for the Islamofascists to take advantage of democracy and grab the reigns of power, Egypt is the birthplace of Al Queda after all......
this is the whole downside to democracy in the Middle East, and I often wondered why the Baathists in Iraq didn't just lay low and reincarnate themselves and try to grab the reigns of power later using democracy to their advantage, now that they have killed so many innocent Iraqis, it's going to be game over for that lot for some time to come......
the upside is this, for example, even in nutty Islamic Pakistan, the extremist parties only ever garner 5 per cent of the vote, last election they got 10 per cent because of the anger at Musshy for throwing in his lot with the Yanks vs the Taliban, the problem however that is extremist in Pakistani terms, if you catch my drift, and the second problem is Pakistan has so many political parties, 10 per cent of the vote gets you more power than you deserve.....
which is why you have to do more than just bring democracy, you got to make sure the true democrats get your support so they can keep the Islamofascists out of power
Al Zawahiri was part of the Muslim Brotherhood who assassinated Sadat
then Ayman left the Muslim Brotherhood because he felt they were not radical enough
then he joined Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and eventually became its leader, and of course it is his group that merged with Al Queda in 1998
By-and-large they appear to be Pro-Democracy. Just my $0.02, though.
I stand corrected, it was Islamic Jihad that assassinated Sadat and 2001 was the year of the big merger.....
http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/terrorists/ayman-al-zawahiri/
As a Egyptian teenager in the 1960s, Zawahiri opted against flower power and instead signed up for a terrorist group called "The Muslim Brotherhood," which was founded in the 1920s and active in the 1960s, according to Jane's Intelligence Review. A licensed physician, Zawahiri managed to squeeze medical school in between mounting spectacular terrorist attacks and spending time in jail.
Zawahiri worked his way through various movements to overthrow the secular Egyptian government, ending with Islamic Jihad, which assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981. Zawahiri spent time in prison on charges related to the assassination.
After Sadat's death, Islamic Jihad fractured and Zawahiri took charge of half the schism. Under his leadership, the organization rose to new heights (or more properly, sank to new depths). Under heavy pressure from the Egyptian government, Zawahiri relocated himself and his power base to Afghanistan -- where a certain Osama bin Laden was making a name for himself fighting off the Soviet invasion.
Although Zawahiri and bin Laden worked closely together for many years, their alliance didn't get the Bad Housekeeping Official Seal of Approval until the late 1990s. Islamic Jihad continued as a purportedly independent group until 2001, when it was formally folded in to al Qaeda according to the Center for Defense Information
yes I see that this particular group protesting sounds like a pro democracy group and not Islamofascists, we can hope
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