Tahrir spirit quelled after vote in Egypt - The Washington Post
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CAIRO — Protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square marched with banners, paraded coffins and released black balloons Friday in memory of more than 40 demonstrators killed in clashes last week after Egypt’s interim military rulers cracked down on rallies calling for its departure.
But the resignation of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF, seemed a distant dream after a week that saw the successful staging of the first round of parliamentary elections and concluded Friday with the unveiling of a cabinet by Kamal el-Ganzouri, 78, the new prime minister appointed as a concession to the protesters.
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Egypt's military rulers were quick to take credit Tuesday for a strong turnout in the first elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a vote that appeared to be the country's freest and fairest in living memory. (Nov. 29)
In the square, there was none of the uproarof last week, when hundreds of thousands of people gathered amid clouds of tear gas and volleys of bullets, both rubber-coated and live, according to Health Ministry reports. The police officers and soldiers were gone, and although people chanted “Military rule is shameful” and other anti-council slogans, their numbers were much diminished.
In the encampment in the center, some protesters, many with broken limbs and eye injuries sustained in the violence last week, have vowed to stay until the end of the military rule they see as an extension of the government of president Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in February after an 18-day uprising.
Many said they had boycotted the elections, viewing them as illegitimate while the country remains under military rule. Others said they had voted but were disappointed by the projected poor performance of liberal parties in the face of more organized Islamist ones.
“I think the high level of participation in the elections this week sent a message to the people in Tahrir that the majority would like a return to stability, and that they accept more or less the timetable set by SCAF for a return to civilian rule,” said Mustafa Kamel el-Sayed, professor of political science at Cairo University. A transition plan announced by the military would see it giving up power by April next year.
Sayed also noted a sense of frustration that the political groups that started the revolution did not do well. “That dampened the atmosphere in Tahrir,” he said.
Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group said that many people in the square were clinging to the euphoria of the February uprising rather than negotiating the difficult process of transition. “These people are not engaging with politics because politics are disappointing and petty, and this is why it was so easy for the military to ignore them,” he said.
In the nearby Abbasiya area Friday, a rally was held by supporters of the military who say they represent of the silent majority and insist that the Tahrir Square protesters, many of whom are young, secular and middle-class, do not speak for them. They, too, were fewer in number than last week, but their tone was triumphant as they insisted that the council is needed to maintain stability.
“I love the people here in Abbasiya and in Tahrir,” said Abdelhamid Mehdi, a 23-year-old preacher. “But in Tahrir, they want to completely purify everything now. . . . This is a critical time for Egypt. She is in the intensive-care unit, and they want to tell her to leave, take away her oxygen and get up before she is healed.”
