After Cairo’s bloody events last night, Wafd Party's High Commission decided to express solidarity with Tahrir protesters by joining them in the square. "We want to go and be on the front lines with the youth in order to divide factions, and to protect them."
In a press conference held today after the High Commission met at the party’s headquarters, Wafd Party President, al-Sayyed Badawy said that the party refused to meet with the Vice President Omar Suleiman due to “the transgressions that occurred yesterday." Government-owned news outlets had claimed earlier today that negotiations were in progress with opposition groups.
During yesterday’s clashes between a pro-Mubarak mob and anti-Mubarak demonstrators, doctors attending to the square reported to Al-Masry Al-Youm that at least 30 protesters were killed. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health reported on declared on Thursday that the death toll reached eight.
Badawy claimed that his party confirmed reports that many of those in the pro-Mubarak rally were thugs hired by ruling National Democratic Party stalwarts. The high commission announced today its intention to prosecute NDP members they accuse as having provided material incentives for thugs to attack protesters.
Members of the party expressed extreme dismay at what they consider “gang warfare” instigated by corrupt members of the faltering NDP party.
A member of the High Commission, Moustafa al-Sherdy, claims that his party was discussing the option of going to the negotiating table with the government yesterday before the clashes began, but that for now, dialogue with the government remains impossible. "The dialogue (with the government) will begin once they take measures to protect the people.” This will be gauged by the government’s immediate effort to minimize the threat of the “militias and thugs” sent by the NDP, he said.
After the press conference, Wafd’s High Commission made its way to Tahrir Square mostly on foot, with Badawy promising to follow.
Badawy reiterated Wafd’s position that the party’s demands remain the same as the youth leading the revolution. It demands that Mubarak resign immediately, begin the process of drafting a new constitution, cancel the state of emergency, and dissolve parliament with a view toward preparing new elections.
Until now, formal opposition parties have played only a modest role in the popular uprising that began on 25 January. “There are no parties now,” Badawy said. “The important thing now is Egypt. Nothing is above its interests.”
