CAIRO: In an attempt to show strength, thousands of Egyptians in support of President Mohamed Morsi took to Cairo's streets on Saturday in a large demonstration aimed at countering the rise of anti-Morsi sentiment that has seen hundreds of thousands head to central Cairo's Tahrir Square over the past 9 days. Led by the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi came out of, the demonstrators waved flags and held massive photos of the country's president. The hope was that the Brotherhood could show the country that they can bring out large crowds in support of Morsi to counter the sit-in currently taking place in Tahrir after a presidential decree gave Morsi powers above judicial oversight. The demonstrators agreed with Morsi's sentiments that he had issued the decrees in order to “prevent courts” headed by the former regime from dissolving a constituent assembly tasked with drafting the constitution and delaying further democratic transition. “The people support the president's decision!” chanted crowds outside Cairo University, where several thousand had gathered. That constitution was pushed through on Friday and Morsi is to send it to the public for a referendum, after which if passed by the people would become the country's official constitution. At the heart of the ongoing frustration by the liberal and secular community, who have been in protest mode against Morsi and the constitution are specific clauses that maintain Islamic law as the basis of legislation – the same clauses from the former Hosni Mubarak constitution – and the removal of specific guarantees that grant women equality. Manar el-Shourbagi, the only woman on the drafting committee quit on Monday. It was unclear her reasons for leaving the assembly, but it follows a number of other Egyptian women removing themselves from the drafting process in protest of the their voices not being heard and the takeover of the process by ultra-conservative Salafists. Earlier this month, women's rights groups also condemned the assembly, arguing that they were attempting to remove all women's rights in an “act of aggression toward women." The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights (ECWR) said in a statement that the cancellation of a number of women's rights clauses is “planned aggression against Egyptian women" and demanded that women and their rights are protected in the new constitution. “In the light of intimidating the Egyptian women and seeking to attack their rights by some dominant mainstream in the constituent assembly of the constitution, the Egyptian society was shocked due to the announcement, on behalf of some members of the committee, on the cancellation of article 68 from what is known as the draft of constitution," ECWR said in their statement. Article 68 had guaranteed the rights and equality of women and men in all sectors of society, including political, cultural, economic and social life “and all other fields without prejudice to the provisions of Islamic Shari'a. “The State provides the services of motherhood and childhood for free. The state ensures the women's health care, social and economic rights and the right of inheritance and reconcile with her duties towards the family and her work in the society. The state provides protection and special attention of household, divorced, and widowed women and others of women who most in need," read Article 68. The rights group urged the constituent assembly to abide by the understanding that men and women are equal under Egyptian law. “The need to include specific references aiming at establishing the principle of equality between women and men, addressed ‘women and men', instead of the signals or ambiguous and general words such as ‘personals and citizens or individuals'. The reference of women or men in the preamble reinforces the idea that says women and men are equal in the constitution and both of them have the same rights and duties, and they are treated equally without any discrimination," ECWR continued. Women's rights have become a major focal point in the new constitution, with a number of conservatives on the assembly pushing to revoke many of the gains achieved in the years leading up to the Egyptian uprising, including divorce rights, economic rights and the age of marriage. Salafists – Islamic puritans – have been calling for the age of marriage to be lowered as well as the cancellation of woman's right to divorce. But it hasn't stopped the Brotherhood from pushing forward on what they continue to say is the will of the people after it and the Salafists earned 50 percent in the now deposed Parliament in elections late last year. Brotherhood activists in several cities passed out fliers calling for people to come out and “support Islamic law.” A number of Muslim clerics in Friday sermons in the southern city of Assiut called the president's opponents “enemies of God and Islam.” The country appears extremely divided at the current moment, with both groups claiming legitimacy over the future of the country. Opposition leaders have called on Egyptians to protest Morsi and continue the revolution that began in January 2011 and ousted Mubarak. For now, many activists tell Bikyamasr.com that they plan on remaining in Tahrir and pushing a media and public campaign against the constitution in order to vote it down to “ensure the rights of Egyptians and the dignity of those who were killed in the 18 days of revolution.”
