Friday Unity rally intended to unite pro- and anti- SCAF protesters; April 6 calls initiative "suspicious."
The April 6 Youth Movement denies being involved in an initiative calling for a Friday rally dubbed “Friday of Unity.” The proposed rally aims to bring together protesters who are for and against the ruling military regime.
The official spokesperson of April 6 Movement, Tarek El-Khouly, clarified that the movement did not participate in the initiative, which reportedly saw representatives of fifteen parties and 135 political movements call for the rally devoted to “Conciliation for the love of Egypt.” The call for the rally includes a unified list of demands.
“Several people asked the 6th of April Movement to participate in this initiative but we rejected this suspicious initiative from people who say that they are representatives of protesters in Tahrir Square and others from Abbassiya,” El-Khouly said. “The movement does not view the Abbassiya protesters as part of the January 25 revolution and we believe that they are nothing more than the remnants of the old regime who are just trying to find a new role to play in the coming period.”
Among the demands of the initiative are those still outstanding from the January Revolution, that all mass protests remain peaceful in nature, that differences of opinion are respected, that all forms of violence are rejected, that freedom of the press and judicial independence are guaranteed and that Egypt remains a civil state.
The initiative also calls for the formation of an objective fact-finding committee – consisting of judges, rights experts and parliamentarians – tasked with investigating recent violent confrontations between protesters and security forces in and around Tahrir Square.
[Produced in partnership with Ahram Online.]
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