Dozens of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square to commemorate the second anniversary of Mubarak’s downfall boarded the metro to head to the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace, after activists on the main stage in the square warned clashes were intensifying there.
Demonstrators in the square staged a candlelit vigil, raising banners with slogans decrying “violations against freedom and dignity,” and “mourning the souls of the martyrs.”
Verbal altercations broke out when a protester climbed onto the main stage and began harshly criticizing the National Salvation Front. Other demonstrators told him to get out of the square.
Four marches from across Cairo converged in Tahrir Square on Monday evening to demand the fall of President Mohamed Morsy.
The marches arrived in the square after sunset prayers. The march from Fatah Mosque in Ramses was the first to arrive, with dozens of protesters waving banners calling for bread, freedom and social justice.
By 8 pm, marches from Sayeda Zeinab, Shubra and Talaat Harb Square began to arrive in Tahrir, each shouting slogans calling for an end to the Morsy administration.
Members of the Revolutionary Democratic Alliance and the National Association for Change began a march from Sayeda Zeinab Mosque was the third march to arrive on Monday night.
Mohamed al-Khazrgy, a member of the Tagammu Party, said the main aims of today’s protest are to overthrow President Mohamed Morsy’s administration and the Constitution, for an independent commission to investigate the president for his role in the killing of protesters, and to put the prime minister and interior minister on trial for human rights abuses.
Members of the Social Democratic Party, the Dostour Party, the Popular Current, the Revolutionary Socialists and the April 6 Youth Movement marched from Fatah Mosque in Ramses to Tahrir, with some marching on to the Supreme Court.
Demonstrators chanted slogans against Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood. They demanded the prosecutor general’s resignation, and that the interior minister be tried for ordering excessive violence against protesters in recent events.
Samia Mahmoud, a protester who said she is not affiliated with any political party or movement, said that she joined the march to show her disapproval of Morsy and the Brotherhood’s policies. Another demonstrator, Hanan Mohamed, said Egyptians should only die from natural causes, not from bullets fired by the police.
Earlier in the evening, dozens marched from Shubra to Tahrir. Protesters chanted slogans against Morsy and the Brotherhood, demanding a national salvation government and the dismissal of the prosecutor general.
Several other marches commemorating the 11 February anniversary are expected later in the evening. Marches from Nour Mosque in Abbasseya and Raba’a al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City are planned to head to the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace, while others from Sayeda Zeinab Mosque and Fatih Mosque in Ramses will head to Tahrir to demand that Morsy step down.
Today’s anniversary is a good time to remember the revolution’s demands, which have not been met by the current president, Popular Current member Khaled Telima told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Saturday. There is no protection of freedoms or human rights, nor any sound economic policies under Morsy’s rule, he asserted.
Several opposition parties and revolutionary movements have announced they would participate in the demonstrations.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
