Egypt

Political powers renew calls for September protest

Two revolutionary groups on Monday renewed calls for participation in planned nationwide demonstrations on 9 September.

The Coalition of Revolutionary Powers and the Youth of the Second Revolution of Anger issued a statement calling for the demonstrations, called "The Friday for Correcting the Path," to demand the handover of power to a civilian authority.

They called on all mosque and church visitors to join the protests to show their rejection of oppression and corruption, and to demand social justice and the trial of civilians before civilian courts.

Even though more than six months have passed since the revolution, a timeline for the handover of power to a civilian authority has not yet been announced, and civilians are still being tried before military courts, the statement said.

The statement further added that seeing ex-president Hosni Mubarak being brought to trial is not the sole objective of the revolution, which also demands freedom and social justice.

The statement rejected “the intimidation of activists” and their repeated summoning for investigations by military prosecution.

It also called for setting a minimum pension, as well as the release of all detainees from the 25 January revolution or their referral for civil trial.

The groups also called for purging state institutions of corrupt figures and the removal of the head of the Central Auditing Organization.

Jama’a al-Islamiya, the Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi Nour Party will decide on their participation after Eid.

Mahmoud Fathy, the Fadila Party spokesperson, said his party has decided to participate in the protest because political powers have generally agreed on the main demand of the protest, which is that of rejecting the trial of civilians before military courts.

Khaled Saeed, spokesperson for the Salafi Front, said his party will participate in the protests if the demands of the protest are unified. He added that he rejects demands such as the postponement of elections.

Essam Derbala, the head of the Jama’a al-Islamiya Shura Council, said the group has not yet decided on whether to participate. He added said the group believes that million-man protests should only be staged when all political powers agree on the goals of the protest.

Azab Mostafa, a senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, said the decision to participate in the protest will be made after the party examines the achievement of revolution goals with other political powers.

Mohamed Youssry, spokesperson for the Salafi Nour Party, said that after Eid, his party will decide on whether to participate.

Translated from the Arabic Edition

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