Revolutionary youth coalitions, frustrated with many stumbling blocks on the way to the new Egypt, call on the ruling military council to step down soon at a mass protest planned in Tahrir on 9 September A few days ago the Revolutionary Youth Coalition (RYC), one of the more prominent offshoots of the January 25 uprising against ousted president Mubarak, called for a mass rally in Tahrir Square on 9 September under the slogan of “Correcting the Path.” The path to democracy seems to blocked with several hurdles, and by the looks of things, many groups agree with them and are planning to join the protests. The demands The RYC aims to pressure the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to cease trying civilians in military courts, which is currently rampant in Egypt. The council, they stress, should revoke a law it approved last spring that criminalises certain types of strikes and protests. They are pushing to set a definitive time table for handing power over to a civilian administration and to scrap election laws the coalition believes would allow former Mubarak supporters to control future parliaments. In recent days, RYC's call for protests against the council has picked up thousands of endorsements by various youth coalitions and activist groups, as well as thousand of social network users. For one, the Revolution Youth Union (RYU), another product of the January 25 uprising, has issued its own statement supporting the 9 September action and called for an end to all military trials. No holds barred criticism However, the Revolutionary Youth Federation is more scathing in its critique than RYC of the SCAF's record in power over the last seven months. In a statement it titled “No to Military Rule,” the RYU accused the SCAF of doing little or nothing to support the aims of the January revolution. RYU blamed SCAF for wasting LE200 million ($33.9 million) in public funds on a March referendum on constitutional amendments that the council did not respect. The SCAF, charged the RYU, harboured police officers who killed protesters during the January uprising; and even sent police to attack families of the martyrs on more than one occasion. Furthermore, the RYU charged that SCAF continued Mubarak's policy of selling gas to Israel, but did very little to combat gasoline and staple foods inflation for poor Egyptians. Meanwhile, the military used public funds to pay for Mubarak's treatment in luxury hospitals after he was ousted. They also chided the military council for the disproportionate actions against Egyptian protesters by occupying with soldiers the historic centre of January's uprising, Tahrir Square, since 1 August to prevent revolutionaries from protesting there in comparison to their weak reaction to Israel's attacks on Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula later in the month. Many activists, ordinary Egyptians, and even strong SCAF supporters, felt that the council should have sent a stronger message to Tel Aviv after Israel killed five Egyptian solders in Sinai in mid August. Pickin up steam Meanwhile, older groups such as the National Association for Change, which formed in 2010 to oppose then president Mubarak, have also backed the youth coalitions' call for demonstrating on 9 September to end military trials and revoke new election laws. In recent weeks, many activists have grown increasingly wary of some of SCAF's domestic and international policies. Groups such as No to Military Trials have launched public campaigns to highlight the plight of 13,000 individuals that SCAF put on military trials since it came to power last February. Human rights lawyers have also attempted to represent hundreds of individuals who army judges sentenced to jail for alleged acts of “thuggery” in speedy military trials, but failed to acquit most of their clients. The planned 9 September demonstration would mark the first major attempt by revolutionaries to return to Tahrir Square in numbers since 1 August. Last week, a group of 200 protesters attempted to reoccupy the centre of the square but military police rebuffed them. Muslim Brotherhood's stance The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main Islamist political force and a supporter of the SCAF, has announced that it will boycott the upcoming Friday rally. A leading Brotherhood figure, Essam El-Erian, said they are confident that SCAF will hand power over to a civilian administration after parliamentary elections, planned for November of this year. Moreover, El-Erian mocked youth groups for calling for "million man marches and turning out just a few thousand people."
