CAIRO: Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in and marched to Tahrir Square on the Friday dubbed "Correcting the Path," calling for accelerating the pace of reform, handing power over to a civilian authority and ending military trials for civilians.
"The revolution still has not achieved all of its goals," Zaki Hassan, 47, told Daily News Egypt.
Sheikh Mazhar Shahin said in his Friday sermon that people had the right to call for the execution of the remnants of the former regime, referring to ousted president Hosni Mubarak and former interior Minister Habib El-Adly.
Mubarak, El-Adly and six of his aides are all on trial for the killing of protesters.
"The people are the decision makers and they gained legitimacy from the revolution," Shahin said.
The preacher also denounced the military trials of civilians. Rights groups say the ruling military council has tried over 12,000 civilians in military courts in the span of seven months, when even Mubarak only subjected 2,000 civilians to military trials throughout his 30 years in power.
Protesters broke into chants "God is great" and "Down with military rule,” following Friday prayers.
Demonstrators quickly got back into the Friday routine of chanting to the rhythm of the tabla, singing national songs as Egyptian flags fluttered all around, turning the mass protest into a festive scene.
Marching to Tahrir
Several marches started all around Cairo and headed to Tahrir Square, setting out from Heliopolis, Giza, Mohandiseen, Sayeda Zeinab and Ramses.
A total of 250 people started a five-hour march from Al-Higaz Square in Heliopolis. Numbers gradually dwindled to around 50 by the time they reached Tahrir, with many getting tired on the way and opting to use transportation.
Another march began in Mohandiseen, passing through Dokki en route to the Israeli Embassy and then towards downtown.
As marches from around the city reached the square, numbers, which had seemed modest earlier in the morning, began swelling as thousands amassed in the iconic Tahrir.
Protesters, banned from holding protests in Tahrir since Aug. 1, were pleased to return. Central Security Forces, who had been camped out in the central garden since the beginning of Ramadan, evacuated the square at midnight on Thursday and were due to return late Friday.
Security and military forces had been deployed in the square since Aug. 1, following a military crackdown on protesters forcing them to evacuate the square and dispersing a sit-in that started on July 8.
"Tahrir is the birthplace of freedom," Wael El-Abd, 38, told Daily News Egypt.
The center garden, earlier surrounded by CSF, was encircled by protesters on Friday. However, there was no sight of tents which marked the garden during open sit-ins.
By midday, thousands of protesters in Tahrir organized a march to the Higher Judicial Council, demanding an end to military trials and calling for the independence of the judiciary.
Most protesters said they will not hold a sit-in in Tahrir, in line with political powers who said they would leave at 6 pm to avoid clashes with the army and security forces.
However, Farid Abdel Hamid, founder of the Coalition for the Egyptian Revolutionary Council, set up a tent in the center of the square, stating that the coalition planned to sit-in until demands were met.
A fringe group, the coalition called for a revolutionary government to oversee the transitional period instead of the military, and demanded that remnants of the former regime be prosecuted in a revolutionary court.
Political powers and protesters took to the square demanding amends to parliament law, and end to military trials, setting a specific timeframe for handing over power to a civilian government, guaranteeing the martyrs rights and setting a reasonable minimum and maximum wage.
"The new People’s Assembly and Shoura Council law must be cancelled altogether," Karim Abdel Hakim, 20, said standing in front of a banner that read, "We refuse an election law that will create a People’s Assembly that doesn’t represent the people.”
El-Abd, who wore a sticker saying "No to military trials," said the military should not prosecute the honest sons of Egypt while allowing the "thugs" to continue to roam the streets freely and commit crimes.
Ahmed Ebeid, a legal consultant, travelled all the way from Saudi Arabia where he works, to join the protests. "The Egyptian community in Saudi Arabia feels that the revolution hasn’t achieved much yet," he said.
He added that Egyptians are treated worse in Saudi after the revolution, which they "condemned" as a form of defiance against the ruler.
Thousands of members of Ultras Ahlawy, a group of hardcore fans of Egypt’s renowned football club Al-Ahly, flooded Tahrir Square demanding the release of members who were detained by security forces on Tuesday following clashes with riot police at Cairo stadium.
They received a warm welcome from Tahrir protesters who marched with them to the Interior Ministry, hurling insults at the minister.
They then marched back to Tahrir, lighted up flares and continued cursing the former interior minister Habib El-Adly.
Abou Aly, an Ultras leader, said they decided to join the protests in force to condemn the attack on them by security forces, following Ahly’s football match with Kima Aswan.
White Nights Zamalek, supporters of Al-Ahly’s rivals, also joined the protests.
Dozens of members of the Independent Farmers Union toured the square holding a number of palm branches symbolizing the martyrs. They set up the branches in the middle of the center garden, while announcing their support to the martyrs’ families and calling for the resignation of the interim minister of agriculture.
Sept. 9 is also Farmer’s Day in Egypt.
"We want to be able to afford to buy fertilizers and other products we need to plant our land," Ahmed Maqlad, member of the union, told Daily News Egypt. –Additional reporting by Daily News Egypt’s Sarah El-Sirgany and AFP
