Egyptian security forces have clashed with crowds of anti-authorities protesters inside the port city of Suez on the second day of demonstrations against the Sisi regime, firing tear gas and stay grenades. A heavy security presence was also maintained in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Saturday, the epicenter of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, after protests in several cities on Friday, which grew to include widespread calls to eliminate President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Such demonstrations are uncommon after Egypt effectively banned protests under a regulation exceeded following the 2013 army ouster of the late Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi. But discontent over growing expenses has been swelling in Egypt. Sisi’s authorities have imposed strict austerity measures, considering 2016 as part of a $12bn loan package from the International Monetary Fund. Nearly one in 3 Egyptians lives below the poverty line, on much less than $1—forty a day, in step with official figures released in July.
On Saturday, protesters headed into the center of Suez for the second night in a row, where they were met by security forces barricading the streets and armored vehicles. “There have been about 2 hundred or so people. They (security forces) fired tear gas, rubber, and stay bullets, and there have been injuries,” a person who took part in the demonstration, however, declined to be named, instructed AFP. Another resident, who also preferred to stay nameless, said the tear gas had into so thick it had reached her apartment block a few kilometers away from the turbulent downtown region.
“My nose started out burning up. The smell was seeping through the balcony. I also saw a few youngsters run and hide in our avenue”, the girl stated. On late Friday, masses of Egyptians poured through the streets of Cairo, chanting slogans that included “Leave, Sisi!” and demanding the “fall of the regime”. At least 74 human beings were arrested after clashes between the crowds and police within the capital; a police source told AFP. The protests came after Mohamed Aly, an exiled businessman and opponent of Sisi, published calls online for demonstrations.
He upped the strain on Saturday in an expletive-filled video, imploring Egyptians to join a “million-guy march” the following Friday and fill all the country’s “foremost squares.” “This is a people’s revolution. We must link up together as one. And organize going down to the fundamental squares,” he said in a Facebook post to his followers. The construction contractor has been posting movies online, starting in early September, accusing Sisi and the army of rampant corruption. The president denied the allegations last week, saying he became “sincere and faithful” to his people and the navy.
But on Friday, demonstrators took to the streets in Cairo after a noticeably charged football match between nearby powerhouses Al Ahly and Zamalek. “I think it’s secure to say that the events of the past few weeks, along with the development remaining night, pose the maximum critical legitimacy disaster dealing with Sisi,” Nael Shama, a Cairo-based political analyst, told AFP. “No one shouted bread, freedom, social justice like in 2011, they escalated immediately to ‘Leave’ from the first minute,” Shama noted.
Thousands shared photos of Friday’s demonstration on social media, which sprang up in numerous cities, with sizable crowds blockading site visitors in Alexandria, Al-Mahalla, Damietta, Mansoura, and Suez. “This is the first time human beings have taken to the streets in lots of years; however, I am not sure it’ll be the ultimate,” Shama added. Under Sisi’s rule, the government has released an extensive crackdown on dissidents, jailing heaps of Islamists, secular activists, and famous bloggers. The authorities’ foreign media accreditation body launched an announcement past Saturday, cautioning global reporters that their reporting of events “ought not to be exaggerated” without explicitly bringing up the protests.
