CAIRO: Egypt is at a crossroads on its future, as battling protest movement jockey for a voice. Competing demonstrations are scheduled for this Friday as many in the country worry that rising tension between different factions could lead to further violence between citizens as the military stands aside. This past Saturday, protesters from central Cairo's Tahrir Square battled area residents in the Abbassiya neighborhood after they marched on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to demand an end to military rule. The ensuing violence left over 300 people injured, and even more worried that the different political movements in the country are leading the country toward widespread violence and unrest. “What are they doing here? Why are they not listening to the people,” one Abbassiya woman told Bikyamasr.com as rocks and Molotov cocktails could be seen hurled in all directions. “This is all Egyptians country, not just one group or another,” she added, highlighting the growing animosity toward the sit-in in Tahrir, which has been painted by the military and conservative Islamist groups as “liberal” and “unpatriotic.” Following Saturday's clashes, the protesters in Tahrir vowed to push on with their demands of removing the military, but made a marked shift in their rhetoric in an attempt to bring the public into the mix after the military had called participants “suspicious.” Gama'a Islamiya, a leading Salafist Islamic group, said last Friday that they intended to march to the central Cairo square with other Salafi groups to “cleanse the square.” The group's statement called the protesters “traitors” and “drug users” and has resulted in controversial reactions and condemnations from other Islamic groups and parties including al-Nour Party, a Salafist party and The Freedom and Justice party, the off-shoot political party of the Muslim Brotherhood. The problem facing those in Tahrir is that “average” Egyptians believe the messages coming from the military and the conservative groups. They have become alienated from the sit-in and feel threatened. “Those people are all rich and they don't care about the rest of the country,” said Amr Hussein, a carpenter from the lower-class Imbaba area. His sentiments are echoed by his friends and family, who nodded in agreement. While the protesters in Tahrir have legitimate demands, they are losing the PR war between the people and the military. Essam Derbalah, head of the Shura [guidence] council of Gama'a Islamiya, said that what happened on Saturday is “an evil scenario” and claimed that the protesters went to the SCAF headquarters with the intention of breaking in. Protesters have said the reason behind the march was to deliver their demands to the SCAF and denied any intentions of breaking into the headquarters. Derballah added that fighting the military is a “plan that must be stopped” as it would turn Egypt into another Libya, “and that's what Israel wants.” He even went as far as others in accusing the Tahrir protesters of drug use and “prostitution.” Unfortunately for those activists who believe they are creating a new future for all of Egypt, they are losing the support of the people. “What can we do when we are losing public opinion behind us,” said Reda Abdel-Khalek, a 22-year-old university graduate who has been in and out of Tahrir for the past two weeks. “We need to speak to the people and get them to understand why we are here. It is for all Egypt.” That might be easier said than done with a planned “10 million man” march planned for this Friday. The conservatives in the country appear to be gaining steam as the liberal activists continue to lose more and more support on a daily basis. The media may be to blame for the ongoing tension that has arisen between the political groups, but as one Egyptian commentator on Twitter wrote recently, “the people in Tahrir don't know how to speak to their fellow citizens,” adding that “it is not surprising that people believe them to be traitors.” The question now facing Egypt is what happens next? BM
