Zamalek Club Chief Mortada Mansour declared Sunday his bid for presidency.
In a press conference, Mansour said, “There is chaos in the country. In Aswan, the two fighting parties demand police to be penalized. I’m astonished. How could the police be penalized, while you were the ones doing the killing?”
“Strikes and sit-ins should be stopped for one complete year until Egypt restores its strength.”
If he were to become president, Mansour said he would order a curfew be imposed on areas of clashes in Aswan as well as martial laws. “The number of people who died in the 1973 war did not exceed the numbers who have died in Aswan and Egypt since 25 January [2011].”
“Egypt has an arsenal of laws that are not applied. Although Adly Mansour is interim president, he has not made a single statement. It is as if he is not there and in a coma, while youth die everyday,” he added.
Mansour also blamed terrorism in Egypt on unemployment, poverty and nepotism.
He called for removing administrative authority buildings, police clubs and military out of downtown Cairo and replacing them with houses for the homeless and people living in shanty towns. “I do not need big gardens,” he said, adding that issues of congestion in Cairo could also be resolved.
Regarding the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam, Mansour said, “International agreements rule us. The Zionist entity was thinking about giving part of Egypt to the Palestinians then link the Nile water to Israel.”
“Palestinian land will be restored through armed struggle against Israelis,” he added.
He also called for dropping the nationality of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders who fled to Qatar, saying, “Our problem is with the ruling Qatari family.”
Mansour was elected as chief of the club in March and is known for his verbal disputes in media channels.
Mansour earlier served a one-year sentence in prison over insulting Sayyed Noufal, former chief of the State Council. He was released in July 2007. In 2013, he, along with 23 other figures affiliated to former President Hosni Mubarak's administration, were cleared of charges of killing protesters during the 2011 revolution.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
