The day after June 30

Language: 
English
Sent On: 
Mon, 2013-07-01
Year: 
2013
Newsletter Number: 
32

 

View from the Cairo Tower. Photo by Ahmed Harfoush


AWR Cairo, July 1, 2013

 
June 30, the biggest protests Egypt has ever seen. Some even suggest the biggest protest the world has ever seen. June 30 is January 25; June 30 is more. There are no accurate accounts of how many Egyptians actually took to the streets yesterday. Some say 14 -17 million, others even speak of 33 million. When the Tamarod (Rebel) campaign was launched in April, nobody could have predicted the amount of people that took to the streets on June 30. Regardless of the exact number, one thing is clear; Egyptians came out in thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions. Egyptians across the country, from Cairo to Assiut, from Suez to Dakhaliya, and from Sharm el-Sheikh to Alexandria, took to the street to show their anger and frustration. Across the world, from Sydney to London, from Paris to Houston and from Frankfort to Montreal, expatriate Egyptians stood in solidarity against the regime of President Muhammad Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which he hails. 
 
According to an Egyptian Healthy Ministry statement, 16 people have been killed in clashes across the country and more than 780 people were injured. (For more information about the casualties, click here.)
 
What happened on June 30? And perhaps the more important question; what happens now? 

On the morning of June 30, a serene atmosphere hung over Cairo and the streets were uncannily quiet and empty. To an extent, life seemed to go on as normal. Nevertheless, the emptiness of the streets suggested a storm was brewing. We set up base at our apartment and followed the news using twitter (tweetdeck), other social media, ONtv Egypt’s live stream and live reports from our Egyptian friends at various demonstrations.
 
Already at noon, Tahrir Square was packed. Images were circulating twitter and Facebook of protesters joining together in prayer. At 4pm people gathered at various points in the city to march to an already full Tahrir Square or to the Presidential Palace (Itihadiya). 
Our friend Mohamed sent us a clip of the march starting in the upper-class neighbourhood of Zamalek. It showed people chanting and cheering, illustrating the festive mood that seemed to capture Egypt. From our balcony, we watched large groups of protesters coming from various locations in Giza marching to Tahrir. They were waving flags, chanting “Irhal” (leave) and cars were honking in celebration. Omar, while walking in the march starting from the Fath Mosque in Ramsis to the Presidential Palace, posted on his Facebook that there was a continuous flow of people joining the march and that the mood was equally festive. 
 
Amr was at Itihadiya, the presidential palace, where in the early evening crowds started dropping in in large numbers. According to Amr, as well as twitter, the atmosphere was magnificent throughout the evening and into the night. Amr spent the night at Itihadiya and only returned home this morning, leaving behind a still crowded and jubilant scene.
 
Some of our foreign friends came back from Tahrir, which was like a great party with fireworks and helicopters flying low, at one point even throwing flags to the protesters. In the days leading up to June 30, anti-foreign sentiment, in particular anti-US sentiment, had swelled. Pictures of banners stating that Obama supported terrorism and that Anne Patterson (the US ambassador to Cairo) should leave were circulating social media sites. There were also accounts of harassment against foreigners, including an attack on a 22-year-old Dutch girl. Although our friends had been asked about their nationality a few times they did not feel afraid. However, later in the evening, the mood grew grimmer as sexual harassment and attacks against women became the norm. Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment reported through their Twitter account: “44 cases this evening. The highest number we have encountered since we began OpAntish. This is a very sad day.”  Earlier this afternoon, Injy Ghozlan a member of the same group, claimed there were now 46 reported incidents of sexual assault with some of the victims in need of medical treatment and/or psychiatric assistance. In addition to numerous cases of sexual assault, there were also reports that two women were kidnapped by a white van driving around the downtown area. Compared to the situation at Itihadiya, where there was an equal, if not higher number of protesters and no reported cases of sexual harassment, last night at Tahrir represents a bleak turn of events.
   
Around 8pm, reports came out that the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Muqattam was on fire.
There are different accounts of what actually happened. Some people say that Muslim Brothers began firing at the protesters from inside the headquarters, while others say protesters began throwing petrol bombs and Molotov cocktails. As the hours passed, the situation deteriorated. Muslim Brothers were trapped inside and there were accounts of clashes. This morning it was reported that the Brothers abandoned their headquarters, which has been completely looted by anti-Mursi protesters. 
Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Muqattam, July 1, photo by  Khalil Hamra 
 
Some documents and papers were taken to the police station and according to Cairoscene a document dated March 28, 2013 surfaced, revealing that the Muslim Brotherhood received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Qatar. Although accurate numbers are difficult to verify, it is assumed that at least eight people died at Muqattam last night.
 
In Nasr City there were pro-Mursi demonstrations for a third consecutive day at Raba’a al-Adawiya, only five kilometres away from the presidential palace. Most of the protesters were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and according to sources, a lot of the demonstrators were armed and ready to protect their sit-in. The Muslim Brotherhood issued statements claiming that the anti-Mursi protests were fake or even imaginary, and that the number of protesters out on the streets was an exaggeration. 
 
Nevertheless, most reports describe yesterday’s protests as the biggest they have ever seen. According to Omar, “the significance of yesterday is beyond epic.” 
 
The June 30 Front has called for mass civil disobedience starting immediately. According to a   statement from Tamarod, “we give Mohamed Morsy until 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Tuesday July 2 to leave power, allowing state institutions to prepare for early presidential elections."  
Sit-ins at both Tahrir and Itahidiya have continued a second consecutive day and other protesters have returned in the early hours of this afternoon. At 4:30 pm this afternoon, the army issued an official statement, in which they gave a 48-hour ultimatum to President Mursi and political parties to reach an agreement before they will intervene. In this same statement, they assured Egypt that they would not take on any political role. Minutes after the statement was aired, people flooded the streets again heading to both Itihadiya and Tahrir. 
 
In reaction to yesterday’s protests and the on-going pressure from the Egyptian people, five ministers have resigned: the tourism minister, Hisham Zaazou; communication and IT minister Atef Helmi; the minister for legal and parliamentary affairs, Hatem Bagato; water minister Abdel Qawy Khalifa; and environment minister Khaled Abdel-Aal.
 
Tamarod states it is a peaceful movement, and although the protests were predominantly peaceful at Tahrir and Itihadiya, the same came not be said for Moqattam and other districts outside of Cairo. Fortunately however, the large amount of violence that was predicted for June 30 did not materialise. The strength of Tamarod lies in it being a peaceful movement.
 
Let us now hope that the protests called for in the next few days remain equally peaceful. 
 
Eline Kasanwidjojo and Quinta Smit 
AWR Research interns