CAIRO: El-Tagammu, an Egyptian leftist party, organized a protest in support of Lebanon Wednesday in Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo. The protest was relatively short, compared with other demonstrations. It lasted for half an hour, ending peacefully when the protestors left to return to the close by party headquarters. The crowd was shouting chants in support of Lebanon and denouncing Israel and the Arab stance. Others held banners sending the same messages. One banner read, "Save the children of Lebanon, stop the aggression. Hundreds of anti-riot police surrounded the protest. More anti-riot police in their vehicles roamed surrounding streets, accompanied by higher ranked police. This protest comes as Lebanese troops are being deployed in the south of Lebanon along with UN forces. The Israeli military says it has passed control over half of its positions to UN forces and is in the process of withdrawing. A number of protestors distributed a flyer written and signed by the Political Office of El-Tagammu Party. The flyer criticized the "official Arab regime and says that the Arab stance in recent events shows that the party has taken the right decision in opposing the Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The statement also demands an unconditional cease-fire in Lebanon and Palestine. The same statement says that El-Tagammu supports the patriotic resistance "under any name in Lebanon and Palestine. They advocate opening the borders of neighboring countries and allowing every Egyptian and Arab volunteer who wants to join the resistance to do so, even though the combat between Israel and Hezbollah fighters is officially over. Other demands of the protestors have already been granted, including the cease-fire, finally implemented by mutual agreement. The Political Office will also help in collecting food and other donations and taking them to Palestine and Lebanon. "We organized this demonstration to send three messages: one is a message to the Egyptian government. The second message is to the Egyptian people, asking them to support the Lebanese people through political and material support. The third message is to the Lebanese people, explains Mohammed Farag, responsible for central education in El-Tagummu. "We can't judge whether the protest was successful by governmental approval of our demands. The government can't [implement the policies] because of international treaties.
