Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Cairo: The April 6 movement, which was a driving force behind the toppling of Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago, will pursue a “full peaceful struggle” to bring down his Islamist successor, a senior member of the group told Gulf News.
“We are back to square one of the revolution after [President Mohammad] Mursi revived Mubarak’s hateful policies, including the detention of opponents,” Enji Hamdi said in an interview.
“For us, he has lost his legitimacy.”
Mursi became Egypt’s first democratically elected president in June last year. The secular-minded opposition accuses him of failing to fulfil the objectives of the revolution that brought him to power.
April 6 supported Mursi in a run-off vote against his rival Ahmad Shafiq, Mubarak’s last premier, but has been increasingly critical of him and his Muslim Brotherhood group.
“We will push for the release of detainees and mobilise the people against Mursi [as] he has broken all the promises he made during his election campaign,” Hamdi said.
Last week, Ahmad Maher, the co-founder of April 6, was briefly detained on charges of insulting the Interior Minister and inciting illegal gatherings.
“Even according to the defective constitution drafted by the Brotherhood and its allies, there is no ban on demonstrations.”
Hamdi said that her group would join a series of mass protests, culminating on June 30 when Mursi completes his first year in office, to push for his ousting and early presidential elections.
April 6 will participate with other opposition movements on Friday in a mass protest in Tahrir Square to demand social justice and the release of political prisoners.
The group has also announced support for a high-profile campaign collecting signatures to withdraw confidence from Mursi and push for an early presidential vote.
The Brotherhood has dismissed the drive as “absurd” and “illegal”.
“There is growing discontent with Mursi’s rule and his attempts to tighten his group’s hands on everything in Egypt,” Hamdi said.
“We have boycotted all the meetings [in which we were] invited by Mursi since the incidents [at] Al Itahadya Palace,” she added, referring to deadly clashes in December between Mursi’s backers and opponents outside the presidential palace in Cairo. “We found out that such meetings were manipulated by the presidency to improve its image.”
Hamdi expects the Islamist-led government to step up an alleged crackdown on dissidents in the near future.
“This regime is more stupid than that of Mubarak,” she said. “There will be more detentions and oppression. The regime will unleash the Interior Ministry [in charge of security agencies] and the Brotherhood militias against the opposition. This will further expose its brutality [but it] will not intimidate the people.”
Mursi’s office said this week that “the ruling system is not hostile to any faction” and that arrest warrants are independently issued by prosecutors.
By Ramadan Al Sherbini Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
