On 14 August Muslim Brotherhood supporters were still camping in front of Rabaa Al-Adaweya mosque and in Nahda Square. The government had issued numerous warnings in an attempt to persuade the demonstrators to dismantle their sit-ins peacefully, but to no avail. It then decided to act. Much blood was shed and many died. Sunday marked the 100th day since the break-up of the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins. To mark the occasion the Muslim Brotherhood-led National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy organised demonstrations, beginning on Friday 22 November, many of which deteriorated into violence in many parts of the capital. The alliance's strategy was to hold marches in several locations even though this meant a reduction in the numbers of protesters at any one event. University campuses were the scene of many of the demonstrations. For the first time since the break-up of the sit-ins, former Mohamed Morsi aide Pakinam Al-Sharkawi took part in the protests. She led a demonstration in front of Cairo University where she was joined by two other Morsi aides, Omayma Kamel and Seifeddin Abdel-Fattah. Kamel delivered a speech condemning the police for “storming the university campus”, and criticising the government's decision to allow police intervention on campus grounds. Although the demonstrations were small, security presence was intense, especially in areas where the authorities expected them to converge. Rabaa Al-Adaweya in Madinat Nasr, Nahda Square in Giza and Mustafa Mahmoud Square in Mohandessin were blocked. Tanks were stationed at entrances to Tahrir to head off any Muslim Brotherhood attempt to occupy the square. Security was tightened around Al-Ittihadiya palace and the British and US embassies in Garden City. Traffic ground to a halt. Last week also saw the Cairo Court of Appeals for Urgent Affairs reject a petition filed by a Brotherhood lawyer to halt the implementation of a September court ruling banning the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and confiscating the group's assets. And on 24 November, exactly 100 days since the break-up of the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins, interim President Adli Mansour signed what has been dubbed the demonstration law, a piece of legislation that limits the right to public assembly. Muslim Brotherhood leaders complained the law was passed to prevent Muslim Brotherhood and pro-Morsi demonstrations. Officials from the group who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity vowed that they would continue demonstrating despite the provisions of the new law. A leader of the National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy insisted demonstrations would continue “until our last breath”. “We will call for demonstrations until we are imprisoned and killed or a political solution emerges,” he said. “We don't attack security officers, public facilities or private property in our demonstrations. The new law will not prevent people from turning out and continuing daily demonstrations. The Egyptian people are no longer afraid.” Such rhetoric begs several questions. How long can Morsi's supporters persist? Is the security solution, alone, sufficient? How much attention can the government afford to devote to the pro-Brotherhood campaign, especially now that it appears pro-Brotherhood students are determined to boycott exams to take part in demonstrations? Some observers believe the Brotherhood will never give up. They argue it will continue with its current tactics because it has nothing left to lose. The organisation and its political party have been ordered dissolved, its money and assets impounded. There is a drive, spearheaded by organisations such as the Ibn Khaldoun Centre, to have the group blacklisted as a terrorist organisation. So why not persist in demonstrations intended to compound economic strains on the government? Perhaps, in the end, this will force the government to listen to initiatives that continue to stipulate a high level of demands. Others believe the Brotherhood will ultimately be forced to prioritise the higher interests of the nation. The relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the wider public, they say, was shattered by the group's arrogance and intransigence and it is time that the Brotherhood acknowledged this and began repairing the fences with the rest of society by recognising the 30 June Revolution and the new roadmap, and by renouncing violence. It is in the Muslim Brothers' power to make the break-up of the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins the last of their sorrows, as one commentator put it. But what will the government give us in return, asks one Brotherhood official. Will it free the detainees? Will it reinstate the Shura Council, Morsi and the suspended 2012 constitution? The answer, of course, is no. And as long as these demands remain the basis of any negotiating position on the part of the Muslim Brothers, the break-up of the sit-ins will not be the last of the group's sorrows.
