CAIRO: Nearly everyone aboard the metro cars today exited at Tahrir Square's Sadat station and spilled out of its multiple exits. Identification was checked, bags searched, and bodies patted down, as waves of Egyptians poured into Tahrir Square to protest against the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The shear amount of people was almost disorienting as one exited the underground metro station. There was a sea of people spanning throughout the entirety of the square, the same square that was the stage for the Egyptian revolution against President Hosni Mubarak in February. Several elevated platforms, equipped with concert-style amplifiers, were the centerpieces of today's massive demonstration. Protest organizers, activists, and political leaders from organizations and parties from across Egypt's political spectrum galvanized the masses from above. Today's demonstration, which aimed to gather over one million participants, came in light of a SCAF legislation proposal that seeks to give the military council supra-constitutional power. The legislation, know as the “El-Selmy Communiqué” was proposed by Egypt's deputy prime Egyptians protest against the military junta. minister, Ali El-Selmy, last week. “The SCAF is trying to create a law that supercedes the constitution and we are here demanding that they cancel it,” Bilal Sidee, a 20-year-old member of the Salafi Front, told Bikyamasr.com. Although the organizations and ideologies represented at today's protest were varied, a single, unified message was clear; the Egyptian people want the SCAF out and political power truly put in the hands of the people. “The people are one and we want an end to SCAF rule,” said a group of Muslim Brotherhood protesters, showing the largest faction of the masses: Egypt's conservative Islamists. “There is a plan to make the common man hate the revolution,” stated Maisara Mohammad, a 31-year-old project manager. According to Mohammad, 10 months after the ousting of the Mubarak regime some sectors of Egyptian society believe that the youth were responsible for the revolution and that it destroyed the nation. “This is not true,” he added, “I have a 3-year-old son, I merely want him to grow up in a free country.” In addition to expressing their discontent with the rule of the SCAF, demonstrators were eager to point out that the perceived sectarianism between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority is being manipulated by the military council to help justify its existence. “We are one, Muslims and Christians,” stated Muslim Brotherhood member, Mohammad Ahmed. “There is no racism between Muslims and Christians in Egypt,” added Sharif Sameer, a fellow Brotherhood supporter. Today's protest is a clear sign that the revolution is still alive in the minds of many Egyptians, as they massed together in its birthplace to voice that the Egyptian people will accept nothing short of freedom and justice that they fought to secure some 10 months ago. Other demonstrations elsewhere in the country were also strong, with thousands taking to the streets in Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city on the northern Mediterranean coast. BM
