CAIRO: Protests against Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi's government entered their fifth day on Friday, with a crowd of thousands gathered in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square and surrounding streets. Notable figures attending the protests were Hamdeen Sabbahy, Amr Mousa, Mohamed El-Baradei, and Khaled Ali. In a different part of Cairo, and in stark contrast to the rally in Tahrir, was a relatively smaller demonstration in support of the president outside the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis. Given the fact that any Muslim Brotherhood members who enter Tahrir reportedly risked a run-in with anti-Morsi protestors, it is perhaps not surprising that the pro-Morsi rally took place in the relatively quieter area of Heliopolis. In the early afternoon, as one approached the end of Al-Ahram Street leading up to the Heliopolis Club, a crowd of hundreds came into view. Posters and fliers with “The people support the President's decisions" were dotted everywhere, whilst peddlers sold Muslim Brotherhood badges and flags bearing Islamic slogans. Another factor adding to the contrast between that rally and the much larger protest in Tahrir is the relative calmness. As opposed to young protestors shouting anti-Morsi slogans at the president, as was the case in Tahrir, dozens of bearded men slept on prayer mats on the roadside. There was not as much chanting and shouting, perhaps due to the speech given by Morsi in the early afternoon being played on large speakers at a high volume. Whenever the president paused in his speech, the crowd chanted, “The people support the President's decisions" briefly, until the President resumed. A half dozen or so ambulances were parked, unnecessarily it seemed, by the entrance to Heliopolis Club, and a police line kept protestors away from the Presidential Palace. There were no clashes or scuffles of any kind. Not only was this rally calmer, but in many ways more organized. Parked by the Salah Salem tunnel at the other end of the street were dozens of small buses and microbuses, which were used to bring the protesters to Heliopolis, and remained parked there until the rally ended in the early evening. One such microbus was parked right in front of the Club entrance, with a sign on it reading, “We are not from the Brotherhood, but support the president's decisions as they are in the interest of the revolution."
