Thousands of Egyptians converged on Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday in what organisers called a “second revolution” to push for faster reforms and a speedy trial for ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his former aides.
Activists complain of delays in putting Mubarak, his family and members of his ousted regime on trial and that the army has not restored order quickly enough to the country of 80 million. Egyptians are also demanding an end to endemic graft, one of the main grievances that drove thousands of protesters onto the streets in the uprising that began on Jan. 25. “After some 1,000 martyrs … people do not see any change,” said Mustafa Ali Menshawi, a 38-year-old accountant, who was helping marshal crowds flooding into the square.
“The only change we see is that the Mubarak metro station has been changed to the Martyrs station,” he said.
In a move seen as aimed at appeasing protesters, authorities on Tuesday ordered Mubarak to stand trial on charges of graft and “pre-meditated killing” of protesters during the uprising that ousted him on Feb. 11. If convicted, Mubarak could face the death penalty.
The ruling military council withdrew the army from near the protests and has ordered security forces to stay away.
Tahrir Square, the centre of 18 days of protests that ousted Mubarak in February, was decked with Egyptian flags and placards demanding that officials who worked under Mubarak and squandered state funds be investigated. “We want to dissolve all local councils that are famous for being the most and worst corrupted institutions during Mubarak’s regime,” said Mohammed Adel, of the April 6 Youth group, which is participating in Friday’s protest.
“We also ask that all political powers get involved in the drafting of important political laws,” Adel added. Thousands of people were protesting in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria, north of Cairo.
However, some Egyptians expressed opposition to the protests, saying military rulers needed time to sort things out. A few hundred gathered in Cairo’s al-Hussein area to express support for Egypt’s military rulers, chanting: “For the sake of our country, we want to be ruled by the army.”
Some political parties, including Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood group, said no protests were needed and warned they could lead to confrontations between the army and demonstrators.
