CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), published a news report on their website and in their official FJP paper, describing protesters who rallied in front of parliament as "armed youth gatherings aiming to break into parliament and attack the MPs." The MB issued a statement Wednesday describing thousands of demonstrators who were prevented from reaching the parliament building by a crowd described in the report as the "Brotherhood youth," as "those who want the legitimacy of [Tahrir] Square to supersede the legitimacy of parliament." "Clashes happen when one party chooses to escalate an issue from the realm of ideas to the [physical] realm,” said activist Alaa Abdel Fattah on his twitter account. "The ones who started the clashes were the ones who decided to form the cordon," he wrote. Novelist Mohamed Ibrahim, author of the "Lemon Revolution" who had participated in the Tuesday protests, agreed, saying that the Brotherhood started the clashes by being where they weren't supposed to be. Thousands of protesters flocked to parliament on Wednesday chanting "down with military rule”, and demanding that the elected People's Assembly (PA) pressure the military council into handing over power to a civilian authority immediately. The protesters had initially suggested a handover to the head of the PA, FJP's Saad El-Katatny, or starting the registration process for the presidential elections on Feb. 11 to mark the one year anniversary of Hosni Mubarak's ouster. The MB statement said that the group was against a speedy handover from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) because this would lead to a worsening security vacuum. "Those who call on SCAF to hand over power immediately had previously wanted them to stay in power for two or three years because they weren't ready for the elections when the Brotherhood was," said the statement. Some political powers had proposed a power transfer to a presidential council before the staggered PA elections which lasted from Nov.28-Jan. 19 to allow for sufficient time to write the constitution and prepare for legislative and presidential elections. Under pressure from the street, SCAF vowed to make way to an elected president by the end of June. The FJP have consistently backed their time frame, leading many to suspect a backdoor deal between SCAF and the Islamist party. When they were blocked by the human shield of Brotherhood members, protesters' chants swiftly began to target the MB. "The people want the fall of the Brotherhood," they chanted. "There are two you can't trust…the army and the Brotherhood.” "We were initially heading to parliament to tell the MPs to take power from (the ruling council) as an elected body," said Sarah Osman, social media coordinator at a private company. The people who manned the shield replied, "Whoever loves Egypt, wouldn't vandalize it," and "the people have chosen the parliament." The FJP swept the polls winning 47 percent of the seats in Egypt's lower house. At some point the protesters threw water bottles, cursed, hurled profanities and held up their shoes at their opponents in disrespect of the Brotherhood. Minor scuffles reportedly led to tens of injuries. The Ministry of Health said 71 were injured, according to official news portal egynews.net. Ibrahim said that some of the MBs forming the human shield responded while others exercised self-restraint. The Brotherhood claims that their youth were attacked with sharp weapons, wooden batons and electric shock devices. "They are the ones who attacked us with electric shocks," Osman told Daily News Egypt. She said that as a group of female protesters attempted to walk past the human shield, they were electrocuted by the MB members and one of them beat her and her friend with his belt. "We were thousands more than the MBs forming the human shield. If we wanted to push them and trample them, we could've easily done that, but the majority of protesters didn't want any violence," said novelist Ibrahim. When some protesters attacked the cordon, the majority prevented them, chanting "peaceful", he said. The MB supporters left the area at around 6:45 pm when the People's Assembly (PA) session was adjourned. Abdel Fattah condemned some of the protesters who targeted MB members forming the shield as they were attempting to leave and attacked them, noting "we never even did that to central security forces." Similar protests were held on Jan. 23, during the PA's first session. No violence was reported and no one tried to block the protests. The MB leaders denied that they gave their youth any orders to protect parliament, while hailing them for their heroic stance. But the protesters were skeptical. "The MB is the most organized group in Egypt, they don't do anything without the approval of their leaders," Osman said. She said that the FJP MPs could have convinced their youth to leave, but they didn't in an indication of "approval." Ibrahim speculated that the group received false information that the protesters would attack and burn down parliament from notorious security officials, known for misleading the public and deliberately driving wedges between ideologically opposed political powers. Khalil Al-Anani, a scholar at the School of Government and International Affairs in Durham University and an expert on Islamist politics and Middle East affairs, said in the online magazine "Foreign Policy" on Wednesday that the MB promote "reform" over "revolution," "stability" not "change," and "procedural" instead of "genuine" democracy. He explained that the MB avoided revolution or comprehensive change and embraced a gradual, sometimes sluggish, reform policy ever since the reign of its founder Hassan El-Banna in 1928. Al-Anani also referred to Mohamed Mahmoud clashes and the cabinet clashes, between security forces and protesters which left 45 and 19 dead respectively, saying that the MB should have apologized for its blunders in condemning Tahrir protesters during the cabinet clashes and frequently granting SCAF legal and political immunity
