CAIRO: Thirty-two of Egypt's political powers and coalitions withdrew from demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square today after what they described as the violation of all agreements concluded with the Islamic movements. In an effort to unify all of Egypt's political powers, Islamists and secular parties and groups had agreed on certain conditions for today's demonstrations. The powers which withdrew said they will resume the peaceful strike in the square to achieve the demands of Egypt's January 25 Revolution. Their demands include prosecuting those involved in killing demonstrators during the revolution, dismissing Egypt's attorney general, determining a minimum and maximum wage, creating a timetable for turning authority to a civil authority, and suspending the prosecution of civilians before military trials. The political powers refused, in a statement, what they viewed as a violation of all agreements they concluded with the Islamists before the launch of today's demonstrations. They said the Islamists insisted on raising controversial issues during the demonstrations, while the national powers committed to the mentioned agreements to undermine the attempts aiming at breaking the image of the revolution. Hamdeen Sabbahi's presidential campaign announced its withdrawal from the square to express their protest against the Islamists' violation of their side of the deal. In the same context, the Socialist Youth Union criticized the Islamic movements for refusing the demands of the demonstrators despite signing an accordance with the rest of the political powers. The secular political powers also criticized the Islamic movements for working to rally their members from all of Egypt's governorates in an attempt to prove the weakness of the other powers. Yassin Tag al-Din, a member of the liberal al-Wafd Party, said the Islamic movements participated in today's demonstrations to flex their popularity before the next parliamentary elections. He said their action will harm the interests of other powers. Sameh Ashour, chairman of the Nasserite party, demanded that the demonstrators suspend their strike until the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting that will begin next week. He said such action doesn't mean suspending public pressure to achieve the demands of the revolution. Al-Said Kamel, a member of the Democratic Front Party, said using religious slogans and chants will not achieve the objectives of the revolution and will instead create sectarian tension between Muslims and Christians. He said the Islamic powers' attendance today was an implicit message telling the other powers that the Islamists will be the strongest power in the next elections.
