CAIRO: Islamist groups and parties including the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Al-Gamaa Al-Islameya and are steering clear of mass protests planned Friday dubbed "Reclaiming Honor." Leading member of the FJP, the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, Sobhi Saleh said that the Brotherhood favored calming the situation down not escalating it. "Incidents can be escalated through protests and we will not be party to this," Saleh told Daily News Egypt Tarek Al-Zomor, leading member of the Building and Development Party, the political arm of Al-Gamaa Al-Islameya echoed the same opinion. "There are certain political powers calling for confrontation with the military council and dragging the country into chaos through these protests…we are completely against these calls," Al-Zomor said. He stressed however that his group will continue to "peacefully" pressure the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to heed the people's demands. "We stick to the plan to hand over power to a civilian authority by June 30," he added. The Salafi Al-Nour Party and its liberal rival the Free Egyptians announced later on Thursday that the they would take part in the protests. Al-Wasat Party, known as the most moderate Islamist power on the political scene, decided to participate in the mass protests alongside several prominent political powers, describing it's participation as an implementation of Islamic Sharia. "The Egyptian woman's dignity is the most valuable thing that should be defended…this is the practical implementation of Islamic Sharia according to the party," said Tarek Al-Malt, spokesman of Al-Wasat Party in a statement issued Thursday. The now iconic pictures and videos of a woman protester being dragged and stripped by military forces during bloody clashes that erupted last Friday dominated the media and heightened criticism against SCAF'S brutality. On Tuesday, thousands of women took to the streets in mass protests denouncing the brutality targeting women at the hands of military forces. SCAF issued a statement hours later expressing sorrow to the women of Egypt. "We won't accept this apology, we want those who attacked and violated women's rights to be swiftly prosecuted," said Karima Al-Hifnawy, founder of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and member of the association of Egyptian Women for Change. The National Association for Change (NAC) called on all men and women to participate in the mass protests, to reiterate calls for freedom, dignity and basic human rights that topped protesters' demands during the 18-day January revolt which toppled the regime. "The Egyptian woman, who played a vital role in the revolution for freedom and dignity, has been subjected to a lot of injustice since then, from the military council, different political powers, movements and especially religious movements," read the statement issued by NAC. Many prominent political powers are joining the mass protests, including Al-Tagammu, the Egyptian Social Democratic, the Revolutionary Ghad and Al-Wasat Parties and NAC, the April 6 Youth Movement, the Kefaya Movement for Change, Youth for Freedom and Justice and the Coalition of Revolutionary Youth. These powers condemned SCAF's use of excessive force in dispersing the sit-in at the Cabinet last Friday. The clashes which lasted for days left at least 17 dead and over 900 injured, according to the latest statement issued by the Ministry of Health. "I'm participating in the protest as a mother who witnessed her boys being beaten to death and her daughters being beaten and stripped naked by military forces," Al-Hifnawy said. Rifaat Al-Saied, head of Al-Tagammu Party, which is part of the Egyptian Bloc electoral coalition, said "We are against brutally beating and trampling Egyptian citizens." The protesters are planning to pray for the martyrs in Tahrir Square during the mass protests. Mahmoud Afify, spokesman for the April 6 Youth Movement said there would be several marches organized around Cairo headed to Tahrir Square. "We're still deciding on the exact locations where the marches will set off ," he said. Most of the political powers agreed that they would leave by 6 pm without holding an open sit-in. "The people holding the sit-in in Tahrir have every right to do so, but we as activists are being accused of escalating the events and are targeted by military forces," Afify said. However, as some parties called on SCAF to hand over power to a civilian rule immediately, others believed it would serve the country best to stick to the initial plan and hand over power by June 30. "SCAF is incapable of handling the transitional period and it led us into a maze of initiatives proposing alternatives for military rule," Al-Hifnawy said. Al-Hifnawy and April 6 called on SCAF to hand over power to civilian rule before June 30. They also called for the resignation of Cabinet headed by Kamal El-Ganzoury. However, Al-Saied believes that doing this would only cause chaos and arguments over whether to write the constitution or elect a president first. "I don't think SCAF can hand over power before June 30," he said.
