Not over yet.
"Islamists show strong unity in Egyptian demonstration" July 30, 2011|By By Anthony Shadid, New York Times
CAIRO - Tens of thousands of Egyptian Islamists poured into Tahrir Square yesterday calling for a state bound by strict religious law and delivering a persuasive show of force in a turbulent country showing deep divisions and growing signs of polarization.
The shape of Egypt five months into its revolution remains distinctly undecided, and Islamists have long been the most organized political force in the religiously conservative country. Some activists speculated that their show of strength would serve as a jolt to the secular forces who helped start the revolution but who remain divided, largely ineffectual, and woefully unprepared for coming elections.
Others speculated that it might force groups to pick sides where the glow of unity after President Hosni Mubarak’s fall in February has dimmed amid recriminations over the pace, style, and substance of change.
“Islamic, Islamic,’’ went a popular chant. “Neither secular nor liberal.’’
That has to be making Israel feel all safe and snug.
After days of negotiations between the rival factions, the demonstration yesterday had been billed as a show of national unity, but adherents to a spectrum of religious movements - from the most puritan and conservative, known as Salafists, to the comparatively more moderate Muslim Brotherhood - vastly outnumbered other voices in a sun-drenched Tahrir Square. The numbers of Salafists represented the most definitive declaration yet that they represent a formidable force in Egyptian politics, riding an ascent since the revolution that has surprised and unnerved many secular and liberal activists - and poses new challenges to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Though the rally was peaceful, the few secular activists who attended contended that they were silenced; some said they were escorted from the square. Most of them decided to boycott the event, in protest of the demonstration’s tone, ceding the square to the more religious.
Some activists were calling yesterday’s demonstration a turning point - a remarkable display of the Islamists’ ability to monopolize space, be it Tahrir Square, the streets, or the coming elections, and of their skill at organization and mobilization.
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"Islam’s holy month of Ramadan to start
CAIRO - Religious authorities in most of the Mideast have declared that tomorrow will be the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a period devoted to dawn-to-dusk fasting, prayers and spiritual introspection. Ramadan’s start is calculated based on the sighting of the new moon, which marks the beginning of the Muslim lunar month that varies between 29 or 30 days."
"Soldiers clear Tahrir Square to end latest protests; Holdouts waiting for Mubarak, police to start trial" August 02, 2011|By Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press
CAIRO - Egyptian forces swinging electrified batons and shouting the battle cry “God is great’’ yesterday swiftly chased off dozens of activists who had refused to end four weeks of renewed protests at Tahrir Square to pressure the country’s transitional military rulers.
Hundreds of riot police backed by armored vehicles and soldiers moved in to tear down the camp of dozens of tents after a group of holdout activists - some of them relatives of people killed in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February - refused pleas over loudspeakers to go home. Some in the crowd hurled stones at the police.
Meet the new boss!
Firing shots in the air and using clubs, Egyptian forces cleared the square within minutes....
The ruling military council appears to have run out of patience with the protesters....
Still, some were surprised by the security sweep, especially as it came on the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting that is traditionally a time of forgiveness and tolerance.
“Attacking the families of martyrs and the people protecting them in the square seems weird. I didn’t think this could happen on the first day of Ramadan,’’ said activist Omar Kamel....
Breaking up the encampment, which was set up on July 8, appeared inevitable. Most of the several hundred activists who had been camping there had already decided to end the sit-in at the start of Ramadan....
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"Egyptian military forces wielding batons and firing in the air dispersed dozens of activists holding a Ramadan meal in Cairo’s central square yesterday, according to witnesses.
The military troops forcefully drove the activists out of the square after they ended their communal meal to break the fast, which comes after sundown during the Muslim holy month. Egypt’s military rulers have signaled that they will no longer tolerate any gathering in the square, which served as the epicenter of the recent uprising....
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"Egypt’s largest political group, the Muslim Brotherhood, held its first open internal election yesterday since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, in an attempt to burnish its democratic credentials ahead of parliamentary polls later this year.
After decades spent underground because of an official ban, the public vote is also part of a concerted push by the Islamist group to show off its organization and dispel its reputation as a secretive and closed group. It looks poised to win big at the November polls, largely because of its well-organized political machine and social outreach programs....
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Look who endorsed 'em:
"the generals.... cozying up to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.... cultivating ties with the powerful Muslim Brotherhood.... praised the Brotherhood"
I think we know who is winning the next round of rigged Egyptian elections.
Military has cut a deal with the Brotherhood, no doubt letting them in on the perks.
I notice they were not cleared out.
