CAIRO: The protest of “Deafening Silence” fell on deaf ears Friday, with at most 800 to 1,000 protesters at its height gathering in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The protest was meant to be a defiant stance against the reactivation of the Emergency Law, which have been active without fail since 1981. The Emergency Laws, which have prompted such a fledgling gathering prohibits, among other things, the gathering of five or more people in any one place, the obstruction of traffic or work and the spreading of rumors or false information. The protesters themselves, whilst obviously numbering much more than five, did not disrupt the traffic, and not an officer was in sight throughout the afternoon. A small group of protesters marched from Talat Haarb Square towards Tahrir in the early afternoon chanting and waving a flag. Abdul Ghoneim, a 23-year-old Cairo University student explained to Bikyamasr.com why they were chanting. “The group is calling for stronger actions against Israel,” said Ghoneim. “This is a continuation of the embassy protest. They are yelling ‘down with Israel' and urging the government to do more.” In all, there were 22 people within the group, many of which lagged behind and did not participate in the chant. Whether or not it is because of the law itself that people steered clear of the square, or because of the absence of notable people, Tahrir experienced its lowest turnout ever for a Friday protest since January 25, when the uprising to oust President Hosni Mubarak began. Sheikh Mazhar Shahin, the Imam from the Omar Makram Mosque, was one such person who did not attend the protest. Mazhar Shahin gained prominence following the revolution, and enjoys a massive group of supporters. “I think people over time become apathetic to this idea of protesting all the time,” Mohamed, a 28-year-old Arabic teacher told Bikyamasr.com. “The revolution was a big thing, and we had a common purpose. Now that Mubarak is out, there are too many people calling for protests on too many different issues. Everyone calls for a million man march, but that has not happened since the revolution, and people move on with their day to day lives,” he continued. On Thursday, Amnesty International slammed the recent expansion of the emergency law as a “serious erosion of human rights.” “The military authorities have essentially taken Egypt's laws back to the bad old days,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “These changes are a major threat to the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and the right to strike,” Luther said. “We are looking at the most serious erosion of human rights in Egypt since Mubarak stepped down.” BM
