Cairo protesters call for an Islamic state in Egypt
PATRICK MARTIN Cairo— Globe and Mail Update Published Friday, Jul. 29, 2011 6:34AM EDT Last updated Friday, Jul. 29, 2011 9:18AM EDT
183 comments
Calls for an Islamic state have taken over Cairo’s Tahrir Square as the largest demonstration since February has been mobilized by the country’s Islamist organizations.
They have come in a show of force to demand that the country’s caretaker authority, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, cease its plans to present a set of principles that will form a framework for a new constitution.
 Video Protesters return to Tahrir Square
Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the former terrorist organization Gamaa Islamiya and disparate Salafist bodies argue that only God’s word is greater than a constitution and that only a parliament chosen by free election can set the terms for a constitution.
The groups believe that they will poll enough support to dominate such a parliament and thereby set the terms.
They fear that a kind of bill of rights could close off the possibility of a state run by Islamic laws.
The secular youths who once dominated this central Cairo square are in a distinct minority these days, and especially today, dominated as it is by Islamists.
Leaders of the original secular groups such as the April 6 Movement have agreed with Islamist leaders that neither side will confront the other today.
The Globe's Patrick Martin in Cairo
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In the past 24 hours, the secularists won agreement from the Islamists that the day would be known as the Day of Unity, rather than the Day of Sharia as called for by the Islamists.
No one, however, appears to have told the hundreds of thousands of Islamist supporters packed together in Tahrir Square in the midday sun.
“I fear there will be violence,” said Hisham Kassem, former editor of the independent al Masry al Youm newspaper, and former vice-president of the liberal Ghad Party.
“This effort is beginning to show the deep divide in the protesters,” Mr. Kassem said.
“They no longer are united to opposition to a dictator, and are seriously conflicted about the way ahead.” |
