CAIRO – Neither the hot weather nor the hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, who gathered last Friday in Al Tahrir Square, prevented Wafaa Halim, a 46-year-old housewife and a mother of two, from coming to the Square with her children and the rest of her family to confirm that the Egyptian revolution hasn't yet ended. Wafaa, like many other Egyptians, doesn't feel that anything has changed after the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak. This is why she went to Al Tahrir Square to join in the huge demonstration planned weeks previously by many political parties. “I brought my children with me today to teach them to insist on taking their legal rights,” she said. It was six months ago, on January 25, that Egyptians decided to take to the streets and demand that Mubarak and his corrupt regime must go. They also demanded a better life for all Egyptians – more dignity, freedom, social equality and food. Millions spent 18 days chanting slogans for the removal of the regime, until Mubarak stepped down on February 11. After February 11, when the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces assumed responsibility for the country, Egyptians felt that their every problem would be swiftly solved. But what happened has been different, which is why Egyptians have been going every Friday to Al Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the Egyptian revolution, to tell the Armed Forces that they want swift reform and stability. They also want officials in Mubarak's regime to be trialed for the crimes they committed over thirty years and especially for killing revolutionaries, starting in the early days of the revolution. "We are here today to demand swift justice for the victims, who died to change this country's future," Ahmed Saeed, a 20-year-old, Faculty of Engineering student, said. “Our revolution will not die; we are ready to shed our blood,” he added in an interview with the Egyptian Mail. Since last March's referendum on constitutional amendments, there has been much heated debate over which should come first – the new constitution or parliamentary elections. The debate has divided people and political streams; the liberals want the constitution, while the religious streams want the parliamentary elections first. Until a few weeks ago, some political streams insisted that the new constitution must come first and dubbed Friday, 8th July as the ‘Constitution First'. Religious streams, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, the most organised opposing stream and the banned one during Mubarak's era, then said they'd boycott the event. But everything changed on Tuesday, 28th June, when many of martyrs' families were insulted and attacked by the police, who thought they were thugs. Tuesday's incidents were not the only reason that changed the situation, but there was another one. Egyptians were surprised when they heared the news of setting free three former ministers Boutros Ghali, the former minister of finance, Anas el Fekki, the former minister of information, and Ahmed el Maghrabi, the former minister of housing. The three ministers were involved in grafts cases. Egyptians agreed on the necessity of working together, putting their divisions aside. They therefore decided to make last Friday's demonstration a special one calling for the martyrs' rights and the very first demands of the revolution (dignity, social equality and food), as the country goes through a critical transitional phase. All the political streams then decided to participate, including the religious ones. The Muslim Brotherhood's decision to participate came only on Thursday, 7th July. So the oganisers renamed last Friday's demonstration the ‘Revolution First', reminding people of the famous Fridays during the 18-day revolution, that gathered all Egyptians, whatever their politics, religion or social standing. "We are all gathered under one umbrella – our love for Egypt – even if we argued over any issue. At the end, it's a matter of opinions," Shaimaa el-Sayyed, an engineer, said. The Police and Army decided not to secure the Square throughout the day, so the revolutionaries decided to secure it themselves, with popular committees checking people's IDs at every entrance to the Square. "This is not the first time for the Police and Army to do this; they did the same thing on Friday, 27th May, when we proved we can secure the entire Square on our own without any outside help," said Ahmed Abdel-Shakour, a 34-year-old accountant. Thankfully, last Friday's demonstration in Al Tahrir was remarkably peaceful. There was no serious trouble, only small clashes between some political activists and Muslim Brotherhood members, arguing about the Constitution first issue. At the end of the day, some political streams including April 6 movement decided to start an open sit-in inside Al Tahrir Square, until all their demands were met. By days people's anger is still rising and their number also is still in rise inside the square, especially after the Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's speech earlier this week, which reminded many people of Mubarak's ones.
