THE widespread clashes that erupted last Friday between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi have crystallised the present crisis the political street suffers today in Egypt. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), since having their candidate winning the presidential elections, have taken to adopting the strategy of subjecting any party, which dares to express opposition to the President, to fierce criticism and even accusations of treason and infidelity. For this reason, they refused to allow followers of more than 20 political groups to express their discontent at President Morsi's performance during the first 100-day in office in the so called ‘Accountability Friday'. Muslim Brothers showed up in high numbers at Tahrir Square and clashed with the demonstrators, storming a stage erected by the opposition activists and smashing the loudspeakers to prevent the activists expressing their opposition to the President. Apparently, those intending to support President Morsi have actually greatly harmed him, as they denied his claim of being president of all Egyptians, who have the right to criticise him, if they detect shortcomings on his part. These Brothers at Tahrir also confirmed some parties' suspicion about the Islamists' ability to adopt democracy and respect for the other's viewpoint. One of the MB's leadership Essam el-Eryan, a candidate for heading the MB's Freedom and Justice Party, has stated to the press that most of the injured cases are among the Muslim Brotherhood followers. El-Eryan's statement, designed to clear the Muslim Brothers and depict them as the victims and not the attacker, actually proved nothing but the group's wrong doings. The mere MB participation in Friday's events was a great mistake as it was intended to clear Tahrir Square of powers that wished to express their opposition to the president's policies. Since the Mubarak regime was toppled on February 11, 2011, all protests organised in Tahrir Square by either the revolutionary powers against the then ruling military council or the Islamist groups have never been attended by those supporting the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Instead, we have become accustomed to see these groups organise parallel demonstrations in other Cairo squares on the same day so as to prevent the inevitable clashes between the two sides. Since President Morsi came to power, Tahrir Square has been the venue of innumerable celebrations by the MB that have not been infiltrated by any party to spoil them. So why don't the Muslim Brothers show the same respect to the other parties' rights to express their opinion in the epicentre of the revolution. Freedom of expression is one of the milestones and gains of January Revolution that the Muslim Brotherhood has no right to waste.
