Egypt gears up for Friday of 'Islamic revolution' protests

As Egypt’s Islamists gear up for renewed protests, fear and anticipation have increased in a country that has experienced four years of unrest and street violence.
The protests, called for by the Salafist Front, have gained attention after months of low-level street activity from supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, apart from protests at universities.

The ultraconservative group calls it an “uprising of the Muslim youth” and a day of “Islamic Identity,” where supporters are encouraged to raise the Quran in demonstrations. The group's demands include the imposition of sharia.

"There’s a war on my religion and my Islam, a war on our values, ethics and identity,” a video that circulated online to call for demonstrations said.
The video listed reasons that ranged from claims of assaults on mosques and immoral acts, to the inequality in wealth distribution and the heavy handedness of security forces when dealing with protesters.

Since Morsi’s toppling last year, protests by his supporters have regularly descended into violence as protesters clashed with security forces or local residents.
Protesters have often set tyres and sometimes public and personal property on fire, and have on some instances been witnessed carrying weapons. 

Over the last 16 months, police have violently dispersed many Islamist protests, including the Rabaa and Nahda camps in August 2013, leaving thousands injured and hundreds dead.
Meanwhile, Islamist militants have carried out tens of attacks against churches in the summer of 2013 as well as ongoing attacks against security forces killing hundreds of army and police personnel in Sinai and elsewhere in the country.

But with more violence expected by many on Friday, security has been beefed up, some main roads closed and many churches have suspended their activities for the day.

Who is protesting?
The call for Friday’s protests by the Salafist Front has been welcomed by the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hailed and which is now listed as a terrorist organisation.

It is the first time the Salafist Front has acted outside of the pro-Brotherhood coalition, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, which has led efforts against Egypt's current authorities since Morsi's ouster.

"The Muslim Brotherhood treasures the call to preserve the nation's identity, which the Egyptian people including the Muslim Brotherhood fought for," said a statement published on the Brotherhood's website on Sunday. "The Egyptian people won't accept any attempt to obliterate its Islamic identity."

Other Islamist forces, however, said they will not participate, including the Salafist Call and its political wing the Nour Party.....................http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/116611/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-gears-up-for-Friday-of-Islamic-revolution-pr.aspx
27/11/14
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