Protestors at loggerheads with Egyptian army
Egypt’s ruling military and protesters seeking greater and faster change are moving into an outright collision, as the generals try to strip away public support for the movement while cosying up to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.
Youth activists are not backing down, betting that Egyptians’ dissatisfaction with the military’s running of the country will grow.
The generals, in power since the February ousting of long-time leader Hosni Mubarak, have launched an intensified media campaign against the protest activists, depicting them as a troublemaking minority and agents paid by foreign governments to grab power in an apparent attempt to turn the public against them.
The message could have some appeal among Egyptians growing tired of continued unrest and fragile security.
At the same time, the military is cultivating ties with the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, which joined liberal and leftist youth in the 18-day uprising that toppled Mr Mubarak but has since split with them on multiple issues.
By cultivating the Brotherhood, the generals can take advantage of their large popular support base to counter the young protesters’ influence.
Major General Mohammed al-Assar, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the body of generals that have taken over from Mr Mubarak, praised the Brotherhood, saying they were playing a constructive role in post-Mubarak Egypt.
“Day by day, the Brotherhood are changing and are getting on a more moderate track,” he said in a speech in Washington at the United States Institute of Peace.
“They have the willingness to share in the political life ... they are sharing in good ways.”
The generals have also encouraged street protests by pro-military groups. Dozens of army supporters have held daily rallies the past two weeks in a square in north eastern Cairo, getting heavy TV coverage, aimed at counterbalancing a tent camp by the youth activists at Tahrir Square, the centre of the anti-Mubarak uprising.
If the tension between the two camps boils over, it could plunge Egypt deeper into chaos, even sparking clashes.
That could derail the country’s transition to democratic rule, a failure that could have wider implications on a region that is looking to Egypt to provide a role model for pro-democracy uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.
A sign of the dangers came on Saturday, when thousands of protesters made a peaceful march on the Defence Ministry in Cairo to push demands that police officers responsible for the killing of some 850 protesters during the anti-Mubarak uprising be brought to justice and that military trials of civilian protesters be stopped.
They were attacked by bands of men armed with sticks, knives and firebombs.
Hundreds of military police backed by anti-riot policemen stood by without intervening as the two sides fought for several hours. At least 300 people were wounded in the clashes.
The protest movement began to hike up pressure on the military earlier this month, launching their sit-in protest in Tahrir.
One of their top demands is that the killers of protesters be brought to justice, but they also complain that the generals have mismanaged the transition to democratic rule, operating without transparency and dragging their feet in weeding out Mubarak loyalists from the judiciary, the civil service and the police force.
Their ultimate fear is that the military will allow much of Mr Mubarak’s authoritarian regime to stay in place.
The generals have countered by doing some revision of history, aiming to restore their long-time status as the ultimate authority in Egypt. For example, they have sought to depict themselves as equal partners with the Tahrir protesters in the popular uprising that toppled Mr Mubarak’s 29-year regime.
Over the weekend, the military took its rhetoric against the protesters into a dramatically higher gear.
A military statement accused a key youth group, April 6, of driving a wedge between the armed forces and Egyptians and of receiving foreign funding and training.
