Al Jazeera Net correspondents
Cairo It may be the first time that the Egyptian authorities called on the people to demonstrate for the Palestinian cause, which raised the astonishment of commentators searching for reasons.
The reasons varied between those who considered it an expression of the natural Egyptian position towards the Israeli occupation’s aggression, and those who saw it as an attempt to repel Western pressure on Cairo, while others said that it also brought the regime popularity based on the rootedness of the Palestinian issue in the hearts of Egyptians, and it also compensates for the absent role of the Islamic opposition. And nationalism.
Last Friday, the Mostaqbal Watan Party and pro-authority parliamentarians organized demonstrations in major squares in Cairo and the governorates, and the participants were transported by buses to the demonstration sites, equipped with pre-fabricated banners, colored and written in English and Arabic, bearing meanings of support for Palestine and Egypt together, with pictures of the president. Abdel Fattah Sisi.
The call for demonstrations began when the Egyptian President confirmed that millions of Egyptians were ready for demonstrations, rejecting the idea of displacing Palestinians from Gaza, during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz in Cairo last week.
Al-Sisi says during a press conference with the German Chancellor that millions of Egyptians are ready to demonstrate against the idea of displacing Palestinians to Sinai if they are asked to do so. pic.twitter.com/B5kBorYqnN
– Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) October 18, 2023
Absence of opposition
In this context, the broadcaster close to the authority, Ahmed Moussa, said that the recent demonstrations repeat the scenes of June 30, 2013, 10 years ago, to reaffirm that the people of Egypt love their country and their president and stand behind their army, police and judiciary, explaining that the Egyptians came out to support the Palestinians and their adherence to their lands, In addition to confirming the preservation Sinaiaccording to his expression.
Moussa stressed – in his program broadcast on one of the Egyptian satellite channels – that “this people is aware and senses danger and then forgets everything to unite behind the leadership, and that millions of Egyptians have proven that the people are great behind their country, its armed forces and its supreme leader, and they have conveyed messages that Palestine and Egypt are one hand.”
Massive demonstrations in all squares of Egypt in response to the Egyptian President’s call to reject the displacement of Palestinians and stop the aggression against the people of Gaza. #Cairo_News #From_Gaza_Here_Cairo #Solidarity_with_Palestine#Palestine #Gaza pic.twitter.com/Zek0cGs85E
— AlQahera News (@Alqaheranewstv) October 20, 2023
On the other hand, the leader of the civil movement, Magdy Hamdan, confirmed that what happened after those demonstrations in terms of persecution of its participants, who started from Al-Azhar and reached Tahrir Square, sent messages to Egyptians that the call was not serious, but rather had other purposes that served the authority.
Moreover, the demonstrations did not achieve the desired goals of the authority – in his opinion – which is to send messages to the West that is pressuring it that the people reject what Israel wants from displacing the Palestinians to Egypt, “because those countries have devices and research centers that explain to them the nature of the crowds, and whether they are artificial.” Or real, and the result was the failure of the Cairo Peace Summit, the continuation of Israeli violations and pressing international positions.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Hamdan considered that the authority was forced to mobilize the masses – who were terrified to move – by inviting them to take to the street in order to strengthen its position in the face of Western pressures, as the organizations that were playing this role effectively, vitally and truly were deliberately and forcibly absent by the authority, and were demonized. Components of the June 30, 2013 coalition, as was done before by demonizing a group Muslim BrotherhoodWhich led to the paralysis of various political forces, and the fear of the masses about the consequences of spontaneous demonstrations.
The same speaker considered that many Egyptians showed courage and intelligence, so they took to the streets to demonstrate far from the designated areas, without giving the authority an opportunity to invest their mobilizations in the interest of improving its image internally.
People’s trends
The writer and activist in the resistance to normalization, Sayed Amin, believed that the authority’s call on Egyptians to demonstrate aimed to absorb the rising anger and release it in a controlled and directed movement, instead of exploding with the accumulation of pent-up anger in the chests.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Amin added that the authority sought with this call to confirm identification with the orientations and aspirations of the Egyptian people in supporting their Palestinian brothers, and to correct the image of it as abandoning the Palestinian cause, especially with the approaching presidential elections.
He continued, “There are no strong demonstrations in Egypt compared to its population, despite it being the only country neighboring…Gaza strip He who has a history of adopting the Palestinian cause will give bad signals at home and to Egypt’s fans abroad, so there had to be reasonable and controlled demonstrations,” he said.
“We’ll save you, mate.” #Palestine“..Demonstrations from the heart of Maidan #Editing middle #Cairo In solidarity with the people #Gaza Against Israeli aggression pic.twitter.com/An84CfvaID
– Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) October 20, 2023
The spokesman for the Salafist Front, Khaled Saeed, pointed out that “the Islamic forces, both their social movement sides, represented by the Islamic organizations, which were keeping the Palestine issue alive in the nation, were curbed, in parallel with attempts to curb the official scholastic side represented by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Saeed marveled that “the generation embraced the Palestinian cause immediately as soon as it came to the forefront in a major event on the seventh of this October (Operation Al-Aqsa Flood),” which the speaker considered an extension of the sixth of glorious October in 1973.
