Protesters in Tahrir Square insist they will not end their sit-in any time soon. They may remain defiant, but splits are appearing among the youth groups that kick-started the 25 January Revolution, reports Khaled Dawoud Late on Monday night Tahrir Square turned suddenly dark as the electricity was shut off. The few thousand protesters who for the past two weeks have insisted they will not leave until the demands of the revolution are met, jumped out of the small tents they had erected in the main circle in the middle of the square, and chaos ensued. "They are going to attack us," shouted one young man. "Watch the entrances," he added amid growing chants by the crowd of "we will not leave". Electricity was restored to the square half an hour later, and with it calm was restored. No "thugs" or security forces raided the headquarters in what the protesters like to call "the second wave of the revolution". This second wave looks very different from the first, in which millions of Egyptians took part. At their peak, the protesters never number more than 20,000, an eclectic mix of young rebels, both men and women with mostly leftist or progressive tendencies, scores of ordinary Egyptians with a wide variety of grievances, and hundreds of street vendors who have turned into a constant source of trouble because of their fights with the protesters. For the past two weeks, much of Tahrir Square has been blocked by the protesters, adding to the already congested traffic in Cairo. There is no security presence whatsoever. When a major fight broke out between the protesters and street vendors last week it went on for hours as the two sides pelted each other with stones. The vendors, selling mostly traditional food and drinks, used their gas canisters to start small fires. The rebels also fight amongst themselves, particularly near the "stages" set up by different political groups and supplied with a few speakers. The fights are usually over who has the right to speak, or break out when members of the audience don't like what they hear and try and force the speaker to leave the stage. "It's democracy at the most basic level," said Sherif Helmi, a young artist who has been in the square for the past two weeks. "It's something Egyptians have never experienced before." The protesters have a long list of political demands, topped by the immediate and public trial of Mubarak , his sons, members of his regime and the scores of police officers accused of killing protesters during the 25 January Revolution. Among the popular demands is the removal of the prosecutor-general because they do not trust that an official appointed by Mubarak could be sincere in prosecuting his former bosses on charges of corruption and other alleged crimes. They also want to ban military trials of civilians, and to increase the minimum wage to LE1,200 ($200) a month. Amid conflicting and confusing reports on the formation of a new cabinet by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, protesters in Tahrir insist that it should not include any members of Mubarak's regime or the now dissolved former ruling National Democratic Party. While some protesters in Tahrir wanted to give Sharaf a chance, the majority seemed to demand his removal, particularly after he insisted on keeping Interior Minister Mansour Eissawi, whom they believe is resisting the removal of officers charged with killing protesters, Minister of International Cooperation Faiza Abul-Naga, who served under Hosni Mubarak for years, and Electricity Minister Hassan Younis, another well known face from Mubarak's days. But the more general feeling is that of frustration and dissatisfaction with the performance of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which has been running the country since 11 February, when Mubarak was forced to resign. At best, the SCAF is seen as being very slow in meeting the demands of the revolution. The majority in Tahrir believe that the largely conservative military establishment has been keen to avoid any major changes in the way Egypt has been run for the past six decades, limiting the achievements of the 25 January Revolution to the removal of Mubarak and his son, who was being groomed to rule Egypt after his father's demise. "The army and the people are one hand," the revolution's ubiquitous chant, is no longer heard in the square. Instead, there are slogans against the SCAF, and its head, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's defence minister for 20 years. The majority in Tahrir also believe that the SCAF has marginalised Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and limits his powers to hire and fire. When a key SCAF member, Major General Tarek Mahdi, visited the square earlier this week to meet with a number of young men and women who had gone on hunger strike he was sharply criticised by many protesters and asked to leave. For many Egyptians, what has been taking place in Tahrir Square since 8 July, when the sit- in started, is a reflection of the chaos that has added to their many hardships since the 25 January Revolution took place. When a small group among the protesters decided last week to block the Mugamma building in Tahrir, a huge government complex which thousands have to deal with to procure official documents, the decision was widely criticised, even by fellow protesters. The Mugamma was reopened. The majority of groups that support the revolution insist that they had nothing to do with a call by a minority, perhaps no more than a dozen young men, to block navigation through the Suez Canal until their demands are met. The call was widely criticised by the SCAF. Many ordinary Egyptians saw it as a threat against national security. Supporters of ousted Mubarak, who organised a small protest in the wealthy neighborhood of Roxy on Friday, used the threat to block the canal to portray the Tahrir sit-in as the work of anarchists who do not care about the country's interest. Roxy's protesters chanted slogans supporting the SCAF and Tantawi. Adding to the sense of dissatisfaction among the public are the growing splits among the rebels and the groups that emerged following Mubarak's removal, all claiming loyalty to the revolution. The Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest and most organised political group, has refrained from taking part in the sit-in or in scores of other demonstrations held on Fridays, arguing that the SCAF must be given a chance. Leftist and other liberal groups accuse the Brotherhood of colluding with SCAF because they want parliamentary elections to take place as soon as possible. With their level of organisation and funding the Brotherhood is expected to sweep the polls. The Brotherhood, together with other Islamist groups, members of the so-called Coalition of Islamic Forces, issued a statement on Tuesday warning that they will organise a massive demonstration on 29 July to protest against any attempt to postpone parliamentary elections, due in October or November, or curtail the powers of the next parliament. That protest was originally supposed to take place tomorrow, 22 July, but was postponed "in order not to add to the current tense situation" a Brotherhood spokesman said. The Brotherhood opposes the SCAF's decision, announced last week, to issue a "set of governing principles" for the new constitution due to be drafted by the next parliament. The SCAF decision was welcomed by liberal and leftist groups who are worried that if the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic groups achieve a major victory in upcoming elections they will attempt to draft a constitution that will restrict human rights and basic freedoms, including the rights of women and minorities. For the protesters in Tahrir remaining where they are is the only effective way to force real changes. They point out that days after they started their sit-in the SCAF agreed to expand the powers of the prime minister, judicial authorities agreed for the first time to broadcast the trials of former government officials, the interior minister announced that 54 officers charged with killing protesters would be moved to administrative jobs until the end of their trials, and the authorities announced that they will soon start the trial of several key former officials, including former Shura Council and People's Assembly speakers Safwat El-Sherif and Fathi Sorour, over charges that they planned the "Battle of the Camel", the day on which tens of thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters sought to force pro-change demonstrators from Tahrir. "Pressure is the only way to bring change," says Ahmed Adel, a member of the 6 April group, one of the youth organisations that contributed to the success of the 25 January Revolution. "That is the lesson we have learned since Mubarak's removal. Otherwise the SCAF will keep the situation as it has been for decades. That's not what we lost 840 martyrs for." Sources close to a number of groups protesting in Tahrir say they expect increasing pressure to be exerted in an attempt to force them to leave. "We are aware that many Egyptians are getting tired, and that this does not help the revolution," says Adel. "But the blame should go to the SCAF for being very slow in meeting our demands, and not to the honest young rebels who want to build a better Egypt for all Egyptians."
