Mohamed ElBaradei spent the night in Tahrir square on Friday; after participating in the so called Martyr’s Dream march.
The march was the latest in a sequence of protests against President Mohamed Morsy’s constitutional declaration, in which he removed the former Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud and stated that presidential decisions cannot be reversed by the judiciary. The protesters also denounced the draft constitution and claim the Constituent Assembly is not representative of the people.
ElBaradei, head of Al-Dostour party, gave a speech in Tahrir and said he is willing to cooperate with all political powers, but only after the annulment of the constitutional declaration.
Emad Abo Ghazy, secretary general of Al-Dostour party said “The constitutional declaration must be annulled, it’s invalid and defective. We also reject the draft constitution that was [passed] in 48 hours by a controversial assembly.”
It was the first time ElBaradei had spent the night in Tahrir and the square was abuzz with protesters’ excitement.
The National Rescue Front (NRF), a coalition of several parties and movements against the constitutional declaration, issued a statement on Friday night; they stated they were considering marching towards the presidential palace and demonstrating at its gates.
The five point statement on rejected the presidential declaration and stressed invalidity of the draft resolution adopted by the Constituent Assembly, holding the president responsible for conflicts between political powers.
“We emphasise that the continuation of political stubbornness, the underestimation of the size of popular rejection and the president’s intention to put forward the invalid draft constitution to a popular referendum subjects the country to a state of paralysis and compromises the legitimacy of the president” the statement read.
The NRF saluted judges for defending the independence of the judiciary and rejecting the declaration, it also supported the decision of several independent newspapers and channels to strike.
The statement said that leaders of the NRF would spend the night in Tahrir along with the protesters and stressed the right of people to protest peacefully, including a general strike and civil disobedience.
