CAIRO: The Egyptian Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and the 6 of April youth movement continued their back and forth on early Saturday morning as the military junta issued a new statement after the youth movement had responded earlier to the SCAF's claim the group was behind the unrest in the country. On Friday evening, a group of approximately 1,000 protesters converged on the military's headquarters at the ministry of defense and were met by the military, who fired in the air to prevent the march from moving further toward the ministry. “The SCAF wishes to thanks the honorable Egyptian people who formed human sheilds between the protesters and the Armed Forces, which helped in putting an end to sedition and not portraying the SCAF as a force that attacks the people, which assures the genius of the Egyptian people and their patriotic sense that astonished the world with its white revolution,” the military statement began, referring to the local residents in the nearby neighborhoods who stood between the protesters and the military late on Friday. “The SCAF asks the Egyptian people with all its affiliation and parties to take the highest degrees of caution to thwart all attempts that aim to drive a wedge between the Armed Forces and the people, attempts that have been cited on many websites operated by a group of malevolent agents. The latest SCAF statement was released shortly after the 6 of April movement released a statement denying and condemning the SCAF's previous statement number 69. The SCAF received heavy criticism from activists on Twitter and Facebook and saw massive support for the pro-democracy group. Egypt's first female presidential nominee Bothaina Kamel, who announced on her Twitter account that she had joined the movement. Presidential and Facebook pages appeared in support of the group, including ones titled “we are all 6 of April.” The group released a statement shortly after the SCAF's, saying they have nothing to do with the march and called all that was said is “wrong.” The group announced that they are joining the pre-planned Saturday late afternoon march towards the SCAF headquarters and will meet with the protesters who remain by al-Nour mosque in the area, where the armed forces halted their progress and prevented them from going forward. BM
