Activists map out locations from which they plan to march towards Cairo`s Tahrir Square Wednesday on the first anniversary of uprising that toppled Mubarak.
Activists have established multiple starting points from which scheduled marches will set out towards Cairo’s Tahrir Square on the occasion of the first anniversary of Egypt’s 25 January Revolution on Wednesday. The day is expected to witness dozens of separate demonstrations, in which participants plan to hold up pictures of slain activists, Egyptian flags, and lists of outstanding revolutionary demands.
A map provided by the fifty-five revolutionary movements involved in the planned demonstrations shows at least twelve meeting points in the capital alone. Several marches are expected to converge at different points, before continuing on to central Cairo’s flashpoint square.
According to this map, demonstrators will gather at 1:30pm at the Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque in the Mohandeseen district and the Estekama Mosque in Giza Square. At 2:00pm, demonstrators are expected to gather at al-Fath Mosque in Ramses Square, the Ghamra metro station, Shubra Square, and Sayida Zeinab Square.
Earlier gatherings have also been planned for 11am at the Khatem al-Morsaleen Mosque in Omraniya, the Talebiya metro station in Feisal, the Salam Mosque in the Haram district, and the al-Monieb metro station. All four of these marches will then merge with the Giza demonstration before moving on towards Tahrir Square.
Other demonstrations are expected to materialize in al-Basha Square in Manial and Amr Ibn al-Aas Mosque in Old Cairo at 11am; another is expected to begin at al-Fath Mosque in Maadi at 10:00am, which will merge with the Sayida Zeinab demonstration at 2:00pm. All marches are eventually expected to merge at al-Galaa Bridge at 4pm, where they will observe several minutes of silence to commemorate those killed in the revolution prior to continuing on towards Tahrir Square.
A number of Egyptian doctors, meanwhile, are planning to march from the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University at 10am. Their march will coincide with the forty-day anniversary (arbaeen) of the death of medical student Alaa Abd el-Hady, who was killed in December in Tahrir Square during clashes between protesters and security forces.
In turn, medical students from Cairo University will set out from Kasr al-Ainy Medical Hospital at 11:00am, from which they will go directly to Tahrir Square. Students from Zamalek’s Fine Arts Faculty, meanwhile, will begin their march at 10:00am. A Tahrir-bound demonstration is also planned from Azhar Mosque, following dawn prayers.
The April 6 Youth Movement has also announced several starting points outside the capital. In Alexandria, a demonstration is planned following mid-day prayers in front of the Sharq al-Madina Mosque and the Two Saints Church in Sidi Bishr. Other governorates in which demonstrations are planned include Beni Soueif, Port Said, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Minya, Damietta, Mahala, Mansoura, and Suez.
While all movements involved are calling for the same meeting points, some complain that the demonstrations’ exact objectives remain unclear. Since most revolutionary movements will be protesting military rule, major political groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist Nour Party, will confine themselves to Tahrir Square.
Activist Ahmed Bahgat of the Lotus Revolution youth movement, one of the fifty-five groups calling for demonstrations on Wednesday, says the problem with tomorrow’s planned event is the lack of clear political demands. Bahgat believes that last year’s January 25 uprising featured clear demands for Mubarak’s ouster but this year’s protests will highlight a multiplicity of grievances, without any concise consensus.
“If we all unite again under slogans to ‘topple the regime`, people will not respond because they do not see that the old regime remains intact,” said Bahgat. “The new parliament has also contributed to the idea that the regime has changed. Even though everyone wants an end to military rule, there is no consensus as to what the immediate solution should be.”
As the Muslim Brotherhood`s Freedom and Justice Party, along with the Nour Party, has chosen to adhere to the proposed timeline of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for the handover of power and to distance themselves from the anti-SCAF movement, many activists are demanding an immediate transfer of executive authority.
Several initiatives have been tabled to this end, but no agreement has yet been reached among revolutionary groups. Some activists are calling for an immediate handover of power to parliament, while others demand the formation of a “national salvation” government. Still others have called for earlier-than-scheduled presidential elections.
Despite these diverse initiatives, some assert that the aim of Wednesday’s demonstrations is nevertheless clear. Ahmed Maher, founding member of the April 6 Youth Movement suggests that "although some will be celebrating, many others will be calling for the continuation of the revolution".
Maher believes there is agreement on the need for a civilian chief executive. According to Maher, the elected parliament should choose whether the military should hand over authority to an interim president or a transitional government. “Celebrations will end Wednesday evening, but the protest will continue and will turn into a sit-in to demand the handover of power immediately,” he predicts.
Two major sit-ins have already been staged in past months to demand the transfer of power to a civilian body. The first was held in the last three weeks of July; another was held in November 2011. Both sit-ins where triggered by violent clashes between protesters and security forces. Activists charge that the SCAF has been mishandling the democratic transition period by protecting the interests of the former regime and using oppressive, Mubarak-era policing methods.
Unlike earlier sit-ins that erupted spontaneously following clashes, Wednesday’s demonstrations have been planned extensively and in detail. Activists have been manufacturing masks bearing the faces of slain protesters to wear during the event; screened video footage of recent military abuses will be shown; maps for the scheduled demonstrations have been printed; and social media venues have been flooded with calls for a “second revolution”.
The military, meanwhile, has sent out messaging that warns of a plot to promote chaos on the occasion of the revolution’s first anniversary, urging the public to vacate Tahrir Square by the end of the day and avoid thugs. The Muslim Brotherhood, in turn, has called upon Egyptians to show patience and exercise restraint until a new Egyptian president can be freely elected in June.
[This article was originally published on Ahram Online.]