Hundreds of Egyptian protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday to push for reforms, as Islamists held a separate demonstration calling for stability. Pro-democracy activists had called for a rally in Tahrir Square — the epicentre of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak — after a cabinet reshuffle failed to satisfy their demands. Sheikh Mazhar Shaheen, conducting the sermon, said the new cabinet line-up had fallen short of the expectations of protesters who want members of Mubarak’s regime forced out of politics.
“The last time we met, we had hoped there would be a government that would express and implement our demands,” said Shaheen, who has been giving the weekly sermon in Tahrir. “But for a reason we don’t know, they insist on subjecting us to members of the old regime,” he told worshippers, who turned out in significantly smaller numbers than in previous weeks. He reiterated the protesters’ demands of fair trials for officials found guilty of abuse, as well as social justice and an end to military trials for civilians.
“We are not demanding the impossible,” he said. But hundreds of hardline Islamists gathered several kilometres away outside Al-Fath mosque to denounce the protesters they say are prolonging the country’s instability, following the uprising that ousted Mubarak in February.
