While the absence of the Muslim Brotherhood from the “Last Warning Friday” protest caused a visible difference in the numbers at Tahrir Square on Friday, Mohamed Khamees from the National Association for Change said that their absence was unimportant.
"The Islamists burnt all their cards long ago,” he asserted.
"They don’t keep promises and the citizens see and understand this,” Khamees said, suggesting that the decision not to participate was driven by their desire to curry favor with the ruling military council.
The Brotherhood mobilized for the Tahrir Square rally on 8 July but made a pointed exit at 6 pm, defying calls for a sit-in and leveling criticism at the political parties and groups who remained in the square.
The group has since launched an attack on the ongoing protest via its website, Ikhwan Online, which on 11 July reported that the sit-in had been infiltrated by “remnants of the dissolved National Democratic Party, the state security apparatus and their Zionist allies”.
Ghad Party member Mohamed Askary said that the Brotherhood’s lack of participation did not affect the sit-in. He questioned the refusal of the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups to partake, saying, “We’re calling for qesaas (justice) for the revolution’s martyrs – this is something Islamic, and yet they’re not here.”
For the parties and groups taking part in the sit-in, the cabinet reshuffle expected to be announced on Monday will play a deciding factor in the future of the protest.
"We can talk about suspending – and I mean suspending, not ending – the sit-in if and only if a clean government is formed,” said Amr al-Shafie of the Egyptian Socialist Party. “My party is indivisible from the masses in the square. As long as they stay, we’ll stay.”
"Such a government must have a defined agenda and timetable for the realization of people’s demands,” Shafie continued.
Ahmed Mohamed, the campaign coordinator for presidential hopeful and leader of the Karama Party Hamdin Sabahy, explained that his party is a member of the 25 January Revolution Youth Coalition and will therefore follow any decisions the coalition makes.
Mohamed went on to say that the Karama Party rejects the existing government. “It does not express revolutionary demands.”
He touted wider street mobilization as a possible tactic in the event that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s government fails to respond to protesters’ wishes.
When questioned about whether there exists widespread popular support for the Tahrir sit-in and the demands it is campaigning for, Mohamed pointed an accusatory finger at the state media, which he says “continues to distort” the truth about the protest, and called for the Ministry of Information to be abolished.
"The government only responds to demands in a superficial way. There is no real change,” said Askary.
Askary also accused the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) of “tarrying” in meeting demands.
The April 6 Youth Movement's media spokesman, Tareq al-Khouly, anticipated that the announcement of the new cabinet will be instrumental in deciding whether the sit-in will continue, being sure to note that any decision by his group will be guided by the 25 January Revolution Youth Coalition, of which it is a member.
