CAIRO: A number of political forces will hold a silent million-man protest in Tahrir Square dubbed the "Friday of Deafening Silence" to object to the continuation and the recent amendment of the emergency law. "We call upon Egyptians to show up after Friday prayers dressed in black to reject the extension of the emergency state in Egypt after the [January 25] Revolution erupted," said general coordinator of the Revolutionary Forces Alliance Haitham El-Shawaf. "The Revolution Youth Union, one of the entities in the alliance, had earlier called for holding the protest and we responded to the initiative," El-Shawaf told Daily News Egypt. The Revolutionary Forces Alliance involves about 60 political groups, movements and parties. On Sunday, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) decided to amend a number of articles and add new ones to the emergency law. Decree number 193 of 2011 released Sunday by SCAF dictates that the rules of imposing an emergency state are valid in case of facing domestic disturbances, terrorism and disruption of national security and public order. The emergency law is further enforced when confronting acts of thuggery, attacks against the freedom to work, the sabotage of institutions, the disruption of transportation, the obstruction of roads and the deliberate broadcasting or spreading of false news, rumors or statements. The law also applies to funding weapons and arms trafficking and drugs. "It is [illogical] that after the revolution broke out [Egyptians] remain threatened by martial laws and an emergency state," El-Shawaf said. "The uprising called for [bounty], social justice…and freedom. None of these demands have yet been achieved in view of the presence of a military junta," he added. SCAF's decree came after clashes erupted recently between protesters on one hand, and police and army forces on the other, outside the Israeli and Saudi embassies as well as the nearby Giza security directorate. "They [SCAF] are advocating the same approaches of the ousted regime … thinking they will keep their positions forever," El-Shawaf said.
