admin
CAIRO — Egyptian police mounted a huge show of force in central Cairo and closed off entrances to Tahrir Square on Friday after calls for protests against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi following opposition accusations of corruption, which he denies.
Protests broke out on September 20 in Cairo and other cities following online calls for demonstrations against alleged graft by Sisi and the powerful military.
Sisi, who was in New York this week attending the UN General Assembly, returned to Cairo on Friday morning, where he was greeted off his plane by senior ministers and later stopped to speak to a crowd of supporters on the roadside.
Asking them why they were up so early on a Friday, the first day of Egypt’s weekend, he said: “The situation isn’t worth it. You need to know that the Egyptian people are very aware . . . Don’t worry about anything.”
Sisi also appeared to repeat his earlier rejection of allegations of corruption posted online by Mohamed Ali, a former contractor and actor, in the run-up to the protests. Ali’s videos have attracted a wide following.
“This is an image being painted as was done before, comprising lies and defamation and some media working to present an image that isn’t true. We’re really strong, the country is really strong with (because of) you,” he said in a video posted on his official Facebook page.
Since last weekend’s protests, authorities have carried out a campaign of mass arrests which rights monitors say has seen around 2 000 people detained. Egypt’s public prosecutor said on Thursday that “not more than 1 000” had been questioned after participating in protests.
Ali has called for new protests this Friday, though government supporters are also planning rallies to show their backing for Sisi and “stablity”. Buses ferrying Sisi supporters could be seen on the road leading to Cairo from the northern city of Alexandria, and crowds waving Egyptian flags and pictures of Sisi gathered in eastern Cairo after Friday prayers.
The protests have unnerved investors and led to a pro-Sisi campaign in Egypt’s strictly controlled media, which have tried to tarnish Ali’s image and that of Egypt’s enfeebled opposition.
In a Friday sermon broadcast on national TV, Egypt’s minister of religious endowments accused “paid agents” of undermining the nation. — AP
Online Reporter