Egyptians fear return to bad times with Morsi

Country is deeply divided, no sign of compromise

CAIRO • Screaming that their revolution had been stolen from them and that nothing had changed, tens of thousands of Egyptian liberals marked the anniversary of the revolt that they led two years ago by staging huge street protests Friday against the fledgling Islamist government of President Mohammed Morsi.

In scenes reminiscent of the heady, uncertain days at the start of the uprising in January 2011 when hopes of toppling Hosni Mubarak’s military regime soared and everything seemed possible, protesters clashed repeatedly with police and sometimes with each other in several major cities including Cairo, where the area around Tahrir Square was enveloped in a shroud of tear gas for hours late Friday.

Seven demonstrators were killed in Suez, according to the BBC. Scores of others were injured and in the Egyptian capital gangs of roving, stonethrowing teenagers spent hours spoiling for trouble.

With the country so deeply divided, there might have been even more trouble had Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood not ordered its supporters to stay at home, lest they ended up in a deadly riot with the secularists, as happened one night outside the presidential palace in December.

“Bread, freedom and social justice. That is what we wanted then and that is what we want now,” Bassel Adel said, repeating a popular mantra first heard at rallies two years ago. “We are unhappy because we did not get anything we wanted. Morsi has no interest in democracy or political freedom. He has produced a constitution without consulting the people.”

Adel, who sits in the current parliament for the opposition Dustour party, threatened that if Morsi did not meet their demands, his party and others would band together to boycott elections that have been pushed back from this month until April.

“This is the beginning of another revolution,” said Ahmed Attif as he hawked Palestinian scarves at Tahrir Square. “The Egyptian pound is down against the dollar. Our economy is even worse now than it was under Mubarak. Morsi behaves like a dictator. Something must be done.”

That sentiment was what brought Mohammad Ahmed to Tahrir Square with his cousin and fiancée, Dina Mahmoud, who teaches art.

“We begin again because no other course of action is open to us,” Ahmed said. “Life is worse for us in every way. We don’t trust the police.”

One of the many reasons the Egyptian revolution remains incomplete is because the country is still deeply divided with no hint that either side wishes to compromise.

‘This is the beginning of another revolution. ... Morsi behaves like a dictator. Something must be done.’

AHMED ATTIF

Vendor in Tahrir Square

Many of Mubarak’s associates continue to lead lives of privilege similar to what they enjoyed under the old regime. The police remain an erratic force that commands little respect when it does show up. In many ways the courts and the bureaucracy behave as if they were the official opposition and not servants of the government and the people.

Morsi’s government has shown little aptitude for running a government, tackling the economy or reforming the security services. His supporters, and those who back his more extreme partners, the Salafis, are clamouring for Islamization while the opposition and Western governments, including the U.S., are concerned about the lack of freedom and the rights of women and minorities.