Events in Tahrir Square again dominate today’s press, with state mouthpiece Al-Ahram wheeling out the hand-drawn font it uses for occasions of great moment to headline “Salvation” in dramatic red.
Al-Ahram’s seven-page report on the ongoing protests and clashes calling for an end to military rule and security forces is remarkably balanced, given its history of towing the state line, particularly during the revolution, when the state media presented demonstrators as foreign agents and traitors.
The sympathetic coverage in Al-Ahram describes the funeral of a protester in the Tahrir Square and a description of the types of masks protesters are using to protect themselves from tear gas.
The paper also reports the results of the meeting between the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and political powers Tuesday, during which an agreement was reached on transferring power to civilian rule by July 2012, the formation of a national salvation government after the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and a “preliminary agreement on stopping violence against protesters immediately,” and referring those responsible to court.
Presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei is said by the paper to not have taken part in the meeting because he “prefers his role to be a conduit between the national powers and SCAF on one hand, and Tahrir Square on the other.”
The tone is slightly different in state-controlled Al-Gomhurriya, which alleges that residents of the downtown Cairo area where clashes are taking place have filed complaints of looting against protesters.
Independent Al-Shorouk says on its front page that Islamists are accusing SCAF of a “conspiracy” to cancel the parliamentary elections scheduled to start at the end of this month.
“SCAF planned and carried out the acts of violence and consequent escalation in Tahrir in order to cancel the elections,” Safwat Abdel Ghany, leader of the Construction and Development Party (the political arm of Jama'a al-Islamiya) is quoted as saying.
Abdel Ghany alleges that SCAF was acting on “foreign pressure” applied because of the possibility of Islamists winning a majority of parliamentary seats.
“They resorted to manufacturing the events in Tahrir in order to abort the election process even before it begins,” Abdel Ghany says.
A Muslim Brotherhood source alleges in Al-Shorouk that the group had received information a month and a half ago that SCAF was planning "bloody events" before and during the elections to justify canceling them and cement the council's grip on power.
Al-Shorouk also reports that a US citizen was deported after he was apprehended while “inciting protesters to attack riot police” and photographing security forces near Tahrir Square.
A meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Selmy — author of the contentious supra-constitutional principles document that was the source of much debate last week — and political parties “turned into a general chat” on Monday night when Selmy left after coming under heavy attack.
Judge Tahany al-Gabaly meanwhile is quoted in the story as warning against calls for SCAF to step down, saying that doing so would be the “first step on the road to chaos.”
In Al-Gomhurriya the heads of professional syndicates call on protesters to leave Tahrir Square. Mohamed Ghareeb, head of the Tour Guides Syndicate says that the events are affecting tourism and negatively influencing stock exchange activity.
Thirty percent of three and four-star hotels have closed their doors and five-star hotels have been forced to close some of their wings because of the tourism crisis, Al-Gomhurriya reports.
Meanwhile, Al-Wafd tells us, singer Shaaban Abdel Rehim of “I Hate Israel” fame has announced his support for the Wafd list.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
