CAIRO - I had just finished writing the second part of 'What does democracy in Egypt and elsewhere mean?' on Thursday when the Tahrir Square demonstrators renewed their arson attacks on government buildings. The main targets were the two buildings of the People's Assembly and Cabinet headquarters. The building of the Ministry of Interior was the demonstrators' target last month; more than 40 people were killed and hundreds seriously injured at that time. This time round the demonstrators attempted to storm the Cabinet building. They pelted it with petrol bombs, and a building (belonging to the Roads & Bridges Authority next door) caught fire. The death toll of Thursday's incidents (until Friday morning) was four, and more than 300 hundred were injured. Curiously, Thursday's tragic mayhem in the area erupted the moment judges were counting the votes in the second round of the first post-Revolution parliamentary elections. Last month's tragic protests were also instigated in the name of democracy. Concerning Thursday's violent protests, they ignited suddenly when preliminary results showed that candidates belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafists (die-hard Muslims) were heading towards a similar victory as in the first round. The Liberals, embryonic movements like April 6 and fossilised political parties did not escape a scandalous defeat. Before recovering from their trauma, these allegedly pro-democratic forces received more shocking news on Thursday. They had to realise that the Islamists would gain the absolute majority in the new parliament and the voices of the defeated would hardly be heard. It seems that the embarrassed losers instructed their young supporters in Tahrir Square and outside the Cabinet to react violently. These self-proclaimed pro-democracy exponents have an air force (outspoken guests on television talk shows) and a ground force (demonstrators camping near the gate of the Cabinet building). It is curious that the alleged demonstrators were determined to storm the People's Assembly and Cabinet premises and occupy them – if not burning them down, to eliminate two symbols of the State's power. The public rightly changed its mind about these young people. They were condemned by shop owners and residents in the surrounding areas and called looters, saboteurs and villains. The demonstrators' story about their attempt to storm the two official buildings and burn them down strengthened the voices of condemnation. The protesters linked their actions to the abduction of a colleague by guards of the Cabinet building. They also claimed that the abducted man was brutally beaten and needed hospital care. The protesters said that they were playing football late at night; someone kicked the ball so high that it crossed over the high fence surrounding the Cabinet building. The abduction took place when a player, ignoring the building's security arrangements, climbed over the fence to get the ball. Although such a childish story should not give a plausible cause for the sudden eruption of volcanic anger, a group of political activists, liberal parties and youth movements led by presidential hopeful Mohamed ELBaradei-the 'messiah'-refused to intervene and help extingish 'the fire'. Rather, ELBaradei, who claims to be the biggest defender of democracy in Egypt, made a shocking statement on Twitter: "Even if the demonstrators violated the law, they should not be dealt with in such a barbaric way, against all human rights." ELBaradei was not telling the truth about 'the anti-protest barbaric measures', and seems to think that democracy justifies illegal acts like storming official buildings and attacking security guards, irrespective of the price the taxpayer will pay at the end of the day. This alleged pro-democracy voice must also have meant that democracy gives the reins of power to lawbreakers, looters and saboteurs. It should be said that such strong support of saboteurs and looters comes from those, who were again defeated in the second election round. It is also curious that these violent attacks on the Cabinet and the People's Assembly started the moment the Prime Minister embarked on his 'suicidal task' of strengthening the national economy and restoring peace and order in society. Recalling last month's violence, in which more than 40 people were killed and hundreds injured, Thursday's tragic mayhem was a fresh act of pressure by the defeated candidates and parties trying to force the military council to suspend the parliamentary elections – and eliminate Egypt's first move towards democracy. Last month's violent protests in Mohamed Mahmoud Street and the protesters' attempts to storm the building of the Ministry of Interior took place just days before the Egyptian nation went to the polls in the first parliamentary elections since the January 25 revolution. Like lazy pupils, who suddenly discover that time has run out and they will have an exam next morning, the protesters did not prepare themselves for competing in the elections. It must be said that the winners (the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists) were absent from the violent protests last month and on Thursday. This should not tempt anybody to think that these winners are faithful supporters of democracy in Egypt. If the results of the first two election rounds had been different, the saboteurs and looters in Tahrir Square and the surrounding area would have equally different identities.
