THOUSANDS OF Egyptians braved searing heat yesterday to join the “Willing and Steadfast” rally at Tahrir Square to protest at the failure of the authorities to prosecute policemen who killed demonstrators during the 18-day uprising and to meet other popular demands.
While the mass of protesters prepared to march to the cabinet office, the resignation of deputy premier Yehya Gamal, a controversial holdover from the ousted regime, was announced. This was clearly intended to mollify Egyptians exasperated over the stalled “revolution.”
Instead, protesters called for the end to military rule and vowed to continue their mass action until their demands are met.
The latest round of protests was launched last week in Suez when a court granted bail to seven police officers accused of killing activists. Sit-ins, hunger strikes and marches have been taking place in major cities. Suez protesters have threatened to block the tunnel that connects the Sinai peninsula to the rest of Egypt if police prosecutions do not begin soon. In Alexandria, protesters have surrounded the stock exchange.
Several thousand have taken over Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the cradle of the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak. They have blocked traffic and sealed off the soviet-style Mogamma, the shambolic administrative centre.
Activists are threatening to expand their camp-ins to the nearby state television headquarters and are demanding the resignation of interior minister Mansour el-Issawi.
He flatly refused an order issued by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to fire 400 police officers accused of involvement in the deaths of 846 people during the uprising. Mr Sharaf responded by announcing he would reshuffle his cabinet, implying a change at interior. But later he said this would take place after a week.
Ahead of the rally, the military warned activists against “harming the public interest” as the values of the country’s currency and stocks fell.
The military said its response would be within the boundaries of “legitimacy”, indicating that public order offenders would be detained and tried in military courts.
However, the council has also pledged to spell out the basic principles of the new constitution ahead of scheduled parliamentary elections in September. Secularists have expressed the fear that the Muslim Brotherhood could win a large number of seats and dominate the constitutional commission due to be appointed by the people’s assembly.
Early in the day an attack was mounted by a group of unidentified “thugs” armed with knives and sticks, seriously injuring seven activists.
Elsewhere, masked saboteurs blew up a distribution station on the Egyptian pipeline carrying natural gas to Israel and Jordan. The attack took place near the northern Sinai town of el-Arish.
This was the fourth time in five months that the pipeline has been attacked. Egypt provides about 40 per cent of Israel’s natural gas which is used to produce electricity.
Meanwhile Jordan, which imports 80 per cent of gas requirements from Egypt, has threatened to turn to Iran if Egypt fails to deliver.
The Egyptian government has called for the revision of the concessionary price made to both Israel and Jordan. The partly secret deal with Israel has been challenged in Egyptian courts, while a 14-year old agreement with Jordan provides for sales at half the market price.
