Several Coptic movements announced they would participate in Friday’s protests to commemorate the 25 January revolution under the motto, “down with the regime.”
They will join the National Salvation Front and other political forces in marching from Shubra to Tahrir Square after Friday prayers. Coptic movements across the governorates also plan to protest.
“[Maspero Youth] Union members will stage mass rallies on Friday along with other national forces. They will raise flags and chant slogans for the downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Nader Shokry, the union’s spokesperson.
“President [Mohamed] Morsy and his group seek control of the Egyptian state. They want to satisfy the US administration and Qatar, and suppress opposition,” he added.
The protests call for cancelling the divisive, Islamist-leaning Constitution that was ratified in December, Shokry continued.
John Talaat, coordinator of the Early Sectarian Alert Movement, said his group would also take part in protests, which he said are aimed at achieving the revolution’s demands.
“The Muslim Brotherhood wasn’t part of the revolution. They renounced it while the youth were sacrificing their lives for the sake of the country. And they reconciled with former regime officials, and are trying to sell the Suez Canal to Qatar,” Talaat claimed.
The quality of life for Copts has significantly worsened under the Morsy administration, said Abram Louis, the leader of the Copts without Restrictions group. Since the Islamist president’s inauguration, Coptic women have been kidnapped and churches have been attacked. The Al-Marashda Church in Qena was recently attacked, for instance, after a Muslim family accused a Coptic man of sexually assaulting their daughter.
“But the forensic medicine department proved the accusations were false,” Louis claimed.
The Brotherhood dismisses the opposition as infidels, he continued. Participation in the second anniversary of revolution is imperative in order to demand the downfall of an “illegal group that seeks to transform Egypt into Afghanistan," Louis concluded.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
