Mona El-Nahhas spoke to disgruntled opposition party leaders after security authorities rejected their would-be rally At a meeting earlier this month, an opposition party alliance announced that it would be holding a major rally in downtown's Abdin Square on 4 November. The two-month-old alliance, which brings together the liberal Wafd, leftist Tagammu, and the frozen Islamist-oriented Labour party, as well as the Nasserist, Al-Geel, Al-Umma, and Misr 2000 parties, was forged to adopt a comprehensive plan for political and constitutional reform. The group has decided to present its reform plan to the public at open rallies, the first of which was to be held in Abdin -- in the square overlooked by one of the presidential palaces. On 11 October, however, presidential spokesman Maged Abdel-Fattah, quoted in Al-Ahram, said the presidency had not been officially informed of the rally plan. "If a group of political parties decide to hold a rally, that's their own business. They had to submit their request to the concerned authorities, which will take all the necessary measures," Abdel-Fattah said, adding, "in any case, the opposition rally is a true reflection of the climate of freedom currently available in Egypt." Abdel-Fattah also said there was "always an open invitation for all political parties to activate their roles, and conduct more dialogues with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which is willing [to participate] in such [endeavours]." The spokesman's statement looked like an indirect refusal to opposition parties well versed in governmental double-speak. As such, they pursued the matter via the proper legal channels. A letter was sent to the director of Cairo Security, informing him of the rally's scheduled time and place. By 19 October, leftist Tagammu Party leader Rifaat El-Said, the opposition alliance spokesman, had learned that the State Security Investigation Department had objected to the rally being held in Abdin Square, or in any other open-air area, for that matter. It appeared to be a sequel to the rejection -- also for security reasons -- of a similar request to hold an opposition rally at Abdin Square last year. El-Said and the other opposition party leaders were angered by the security authorities' stance, seeing it as a stab in the back of any hope for real political reform. According to Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of the suspended Labour Party, "what happened proved that any talk of reform initiatives is nothing but a silly joke." Hussein said the group should hold the rally anyway. "We should gather and move without waiting for permission. Dozens may be detained or imprisoned, but it doesn't matter, since freedom requires a lot of sacrifices." The opposition grouping, meanwhile, issued a statement condemning the refusal, and vowing to continue its fight. "Those who banned the rally are the ones who violate the constitution and harm Egypt's reputation inside and abroad, without realising the serious consequences of their acts," the statement said. Al-Geel party founder Nagi El-Shehabi described the rejection as "nothing but a flagrant misuse of the emergency laws". El-Shehabi called for the abolishment of those laws, since, he said, they hinder the achievement of any reform. "It's illogical to use emergency laws as a weapon against legitimate opposition parties, banning them from practising their normal role." Leftist Tagammu Party Secretary-General Hussein Abdel-Razeq agreed. "In light of the emergency laws imposed on us since 1981, what happened appears very normal. For more than 20 years, security bodies have been banning rallies, peaceful marches, demonstrations and all means of expression stipulated by the international conventions Egypt has signed." Nasserist Party deputy chairman Hamed Mahmoud said the alliance had always suspected that "security bodies would never allow us any opportunity to establish direct contact with the public". Mahmoud said there was "no real multi-party system" in Egypt, just "the ruling NDP, which wants to stand alone in the political scene without rivals". He said the ruling party should just admit to that, rather than continue "talking about democracy, multi-party systems and political reform -- things that do not really exist". The alliance will be meeting on Saturday at Al- Geel's headquarters to plan for future events.
