As thousands of protesters announced plans for an open-ended sit-in in Tahrir Square and called for the downfall of the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, a coalition of prominent political actors blamed the confrontation between protesters and the army on enemies of the revolution and urged for protesters to maintain good relations with the military.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces announced in a press conference Saturday night its intention to break up the sit-in in Tahrir Square, which was the epicenter of the 18-day uprising that brought down President Hosni Mubarak.
Military and police forces attacked protesters in Tahrir Square with live ammunition in the early hours of Saturday, dispersing those who planned to stay overnight to show frustration with the military government and what they call a slow pace of change. The Ministry of Health announced that the attack led to one death and 71 injuries, though witnesses reported a different casualty count. Ahmed Abdel Jawad, a journalist, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he saw seven deaths.
The Supreme Council of the Armed forces denied using live ammunition against protesters and instead blamed Mubarak supporters who they said entered the square with machine guns and barbed wire.
“We express extreme grief and sadness over the fall of casualties but we urge the people to stay alert to the attempts to cause a rift between them and the military which supported their legitimate demands since the first day,” read the statement signed by a variety of political figures. The statement was unveiled at a press conference on Saturday.
A number of prominent political leaders endorsed the statement, including Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El Erian, George Ishak of the National Association for Change, Amr Hamzawy of the newly founded Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the writers Gamal Fahmy and Sekina Fouad, and Nasser Abdel Hamid of the 25 January Revolution Coalition.
They said that the attack was part of an ongoing scheme aimed at creating animosity between the people and the military. The statement says the confrontation between protesters and the military intends to challenge the revolutionary movement as it makes gains in the prosecution of figures close to Mubarak. Zakaria Azmy, Mubarak’s chief of staff, is currently being investigated and Safwat El Sherif, the former Shura Council speaker is set to come under investigation soon.
The statement urged the military to “display self control while dealing with the youths whose enthusiasm may motivate them to take actions that cause unrest during this difficult time.” The statement says that while the signatories may disagree with the military on political transition, they will not jeopardize the trust between the people and the military or the peaceful nature of the protests.
Protesters, however, criticized the statement and demanded political figures react more strongly to the military’s repeated attacks on protesters.
“With all due respect to the people who issued the statement, if you really care about us, you should go to the square and ask the people who were beaten and not let us be easy prey for the military again and again,” said protester Amr Shawky. The military previously attacked protesters on 26 February and 9 March.
Inside Tahrir Square reactions were mixed, with protesters debating the way forward in reaction to the attack on Saturday morning.
Some argued that restarting the sit-in would be counter-revolutionary. “I was here yesterday, but I left at 10pm,” said Hind, a 27 year old who works in marketing. “We should not go back to the tactic of the first 18-days, or be dead-set against the military when there are other clear goals of the revolution to work towards.
Others, however, called for the fall of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawy, who heads the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, and demanded that he hand power to a presidential council.
Hamzawy rejected this proposal during the press conference, saying that it contradicts the roadmap for the next phase and approved by the people through the constitutional amendments referendum.
But some protesters who witnessed the military’s attack on Saturday morning believe that the most recent conflict with the military is reason enough for a prolonged protest, aimed at speeding up prosecutions and limiting the military transgressions.
“Anyone who was here last night will not let what happened pass without recourse. It was worse than what happened both on 28 January and 2 February,” Abdel Jawad said.
Activists are waiting on what has become the revolution’s leadership to know what the next step will be. But some who saw the violence on Saturday morning are less patient. “I don’t want to go back to the starting point, but I feel we replaced one bad system with another,” said Anwar, a protester who witnessed the military incursion on the square.
