Fifty political groups have announced their participation in protests commemorating the clashes between police and protesters in Mohamed Mahmoud Street near the Interior Ministry last November, which left nearly 40 dead and hundreds injured.
Police outside the ministry had been put on alert Monday morning in anticipation of the protests. Central Security Forces and army reinforcements have been deployed in the area.
The clashes erupted on 19 November last year when police forces forcibly cleared Cairo’s Tahrir Square of protesting relatives of victims killed during the 25 January revolution earlier that year.
In a statement Monday, participating groups said the event “aims to glorify the heroes of Mohamed Mahmoud by informing the common citizens of the reality behind the incidents, which helped change the course of the revolution, and also to correct the wrong information given to citizens by the [then-ruling] Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and other political forces.”
The statement said the revolutionary protesters had their image distorted and had been forsaken during the incidents.
“They proved resilient over five consecutive days in face of brutality and treason,” the statement said.
The groups said the revolution would “proceed to seek its goals of freedom, dignity, independence, social justice and retribution for the martyrs.”
Signatories to the statement included the Popular Current, the Socialist Popular Alliance, the April 6 Youth Movement and the Constitution Party.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page Monday that it had not yet received any request for permission to stage demonstrations marking the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes.
The law requires protesters to submit a request to the ministry revealing the timing, the course of demonstrations and its organizers to as a safeguard against “disturbing public safety.”
The ministry said Sunday it had detected calls instigating protesters against policemen and security facilities during the planned event, and added that it took necessary measures to identify perpetrators.
