CAIRO - When Nabil and his wife Hala went to the traffic general administration in Nasr City to renew their car licence, they found difficulties in getting through the pro-Morsi protesters in Rabaa el-Adawiya to reach the entrance of the traffic administration building. "We finally arrived at the administration entrance after passing a check-point of the protesters. They checked me, inspected my car and also took our IDs to check them and they asked to take [the IDs] again after we finally finished renewing the car licence," Nabil said. "But, to finish the procedures, we had to go another place to bring a document then return again to the same place at Rabaa el-Adawiya, which the protesters refused and asked me to come in the next day without my wife. We are only allowed to enter this place once a day," he explains. "We really suffered for two days just to finish the procedures of renewing the car license, but what about the residents of Rabaa and their sufferings?" he sympathetically inquired. Thousands of pro-Morsi protesters at Rabaa el-Adawiya Square are demanding the return of the ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. They have been protesting there since June 28. The Islamist president was ousted after a massive street protest on June 30 demanding the unsetting of Morsi Egypt's first elected president following the January 25 Revolution. Protesters at Rabaa are chanting slogans against the Defence Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and the interim President Adly Mansour. Their protest is not confined to the Rabaa area, but also extends to most of the surrounding side streets in the Nasr City suburb. The residents of Rabaa have repeatedly complained about the impact the sit-in has had on their lives. They have cited the blocking of the roads, the excessive use of the loudspeakers, garbage piling up, protestors' attempts to get onto the rooftops and sleeping in the entrances of their houses. "I can't go out of my home or buy anything from the market and of course no one can come to visit us," Dolly Hany, one of Rabaa residents, expostulated on the Facebook page ‘Call for help from Rabaa residents'. "I have two young daughters who are afraid from the loud speakers and the slogans against the army and the opponents of Morsi which they are hearing day and night," she added. She wrote on the wall of the page that one of her daughters was ill and she even couldn't bring her the medicine as she couldn't go out of her home and the pharmacy was unable to deliver the order to this area. Rabaa residents launched this Facebook page to express their demands and explain their sufferings.They say on the page that they are neither with nor against Rabaa protesters as anyone can protest in conditions that do not harm others. But actually this is not what has happened in the Rabaa sit-in, as the protestors have harmed the residents in their simplest basic rights, as these residents cannot live normally or securely. The Rabaa residents' Facebook page also mentions that this page is not intended to have any political purpose or convey views or issues; it is only to express the difficulties they are facing because of the sit-in. They were keen to say that they respect peaceful, civilised protest. "Many of us can't get to our work, as we even can't go out of our homes," Amr, one of Rabaa residents said on one of the TV programmes. "We [Rabaa residents] feel worried about what is happening around and we don't know when this chaos will stop," he added. The first statement, on July 5, of the Rabaa residents on their Facebook page said: Rabaa el-Adawya square is suffering from a blockade and not a sit-in, as all the residents are unable to go out of or enter their home without being checked by the protesters. The ambulance cannot come to the area if anyone needs it, besides the old people and the young children are suffering from the excessive volume of the ceaseless loudspeakers. The statement also says that some residents have received murderous threats because of their refusal to allow anyone to get onto the rooftops; therefore they are calling upon the officials for intervention and protect them instead of the bloody clashes that break out. "I really feel that I'm in prison, it's not only about not going out of my home, but I can't open the window because I found men taking a shower in the street in front of my home," Dalia said in a TV programme. "They are using the gardens and the garages as toilets, which is very disgusting," she added. The Rabaa residents have posted successive statements on their Facebook page releasing the list of their demands. These include cleaning the streets, not using the loudspeakers after 10pm similarly not letting off fireworks and going away from the side-streets and only protesting in the main streets to be away from the residential area. The residents have also protested peacefully nearby in front of Al-Zohour club. The ‘national coalition to support legitimacy' apologised to Rabaa residents for any damage the sit-ins have caused and promised to respect their demands and implement them. Residents of Rabaa are still suffering; they say on their page that ‘nothing has changed and these apologies are just words without any actions'.
