Egypt protesters stage anti-military rally

Source: AFP

CAIRO — Thousands of Islamist and secular protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday for a mass rally to press the ruling military to hand over power to a civilian government.

As legislative elections draw near -- the first polls since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February -- protesters are demanding more control over the constitution the new parliament is set to draft.

They want the withdrawal of a government document that proposes supra constitutional principles, which could see the ruling military's budget shielded from public scrutiny.

While Friday's protests will group varying political stripes under different banners, the unifying call is for the military to transfer power to a civilian government as soon as possible.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hTw16av9qI0glrfySzjVtJVnckkw?docId=CNG.c08ef4ed8aae44f2aa1bee94410bd809.1c1

Source: bikyamasr

Hayden Pirkle | 18 November 2011



CAIRO: Nearly everyone aboard the metro cars today exited at Tahrir Square’s Sadat station and spilled out of its multiple exits. Identification was checked, bags searched, and bodies patted down, as waves of Egyptians poured into Tahrir Square to protest against the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).

The shear amount of people was almost disorienting as one exited the underground metro station. There was a sea of people spanning throughout the entirety of the square, the same square that was the stage for the Egyptian revolution against President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Several elevated platforms, equipped with concert-style amplifiers, were the centerpieces of today’s massive demonstration.

Protest organizers, activists, and political leaders from organizations and parties from across Egypt’s political spectrum galvanized the masses from above.

Read more: http://bikyamasr.com/48827/hundreds-of-thousands-in-egypt-protest-military-junta/

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Via @MosaicWorldNews

Remember--during the Arab Spring, members of the U.S. military going on various TV shows to kvell about having good communications with the Egyptian military because most of the leaders had gone to West Point? And that was why the military were not being violent to the Egyptian protestors?

Bullshit. The military was running Egypt for Mubarak and they were as happy as anyone to get rid of him without looking as though they were the ones getting rid of him. I always doubted they were going to relinquish power.

And, if there are elections, they will probably be of the ilk that "elected" Karzai.

Those poor Egyptians.

First the dictator, now the junta, tomorrow the radicals. Every election is a new contest. There can never be any rest.


Oh, yeah, for Egypt too, not just the US.

OWS need not put forth a couple issues and claim victory.

We have a lot of house cleaning to do. So do the people of Egypt. They trusted the military?

by the Muslim Bro'hood this time apparently. That was an observation by our UK TV news channels - just an observation : not a criticism in anyway. They said they'd mainly been absent from the earlier demonstrations.

Starting to get themselves organised maybe. That's not a criticism from me either - Egypt needs to sort itself out as the population see necessary.

The elite will always try to take over the revolution.

Al-Ahram reports in Arabic that hundreds of thousands of Egyptians all around the country protested on Friday against the military remaining in power.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi fundamentalists took the lead on the rallies, especially in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. But some liberal, leftist and youth organizations also joined in the demonstrations.

Euronews reports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rGUut-U6o0A

The question of military rule has all along been the other shoe waiting to drop since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in February. The Egyptian military hopes for a co-existence with the civilian government once it is established next year. Friday’s protesters want a subordination of the military to the civil state.

The protesters, however, are themselves deeply divided on the reasons for their opposition to the military. The New Left minds its anti-labor policies. The Muslim Brotherhood (sometimes) minds its dictatorial tendencies.

What we saw in Turkey in the past decade is that if a party receives a large enough public mandate, its ability to stare down the military is much enhanced. Similar things could happen in Egypt, though likely it will be a long and drawn-out process.

http://www.juancole.com/2011/11/muslim-brotherhood-and-liberals-confront-military-rule.html