Egyptians remain divided a year after uprising

Tens of thousands massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and other Egyptian cities, marking a year after an uprising erupted that toppled Hosni Mubarak, spurred revolts across the region and exposed rifts in the Arab world’s most populous state.

United last year by popular anger at Mubarak and his 30-year rule, Egyptians gathering on the January 25 anniversary were in high spirits but divided between activists demanding a swift end to army rule and Islamists celebrating their dramatic change in fortunes after emerging victors in a parliamentary election.

One group of mostly youths in Tahrir stood near a street where protesters clashed in November and December with police and the army, chanting “Down with military rule” and “Revolution until victory, revolution in all of Egypt’s streets”.

With the 83-year-old Mubarak on trial for his life, but a new parliament installed this week that is dominated by his Islamist adversaries, some of the youthful activists who turned to the internet to launch last year’s revolt are disenchanted, weary of army rule but fearful the Islamists may also stifle their hopes.

Protesters mistrust the military council that took charge on February 11 last year when Mubarak was driven out and which is led by the man who was his defence minister for two decades, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. The army vowed to relinquish power after a presidential poll in June.

On the other side of the packed Tahrir Square, a vast plaza where protesters fought fierce battles with police during the 18-day uprising last year, supporters of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists celebrated.

“I’m very happy with the anniversary of January 25,” said Khaled Mohamed, 41, a member of the Brotherhood whose Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) secured the biggest bloc in parliament after the first free vote in decades. “We never dreamed of this. The revolution’s victory was reaped with the elected parliament.”

A member of the FJP now sits on the speaker’s chair, an idea unimaginable a year ago when the lower house was a compliant, rubber-stamp body stuffed full of Mubarak’s supporters. The assembly also has a strong contingent of ultraconservative Salafi Muslims.

However, some liberal activists fear the Brotherhood and other Islamists are colluding with the army to entrench their position in mainstream politics at the expense of a deeper purge of the old order. Islamists dismiss talk of any such alliance.