New protest against emergency law in Egypt

Ninety-one Egyptian movements and political parties have organised a peaceful march on Monday afternoon under the slogan, “No to Emergency Law.” The protesters will march to the Military Council headquarters on Kasr Al Aini street in Cairo. The participants will protest the re-instatement of emergency law and the trials of civilians in military courts. The protesters will also oppose the emergency trial of 90 citizens involved in the Israeli embassy attack. Emergency law was re-instated in Egypt a week ago in response to the attack on the Israeli embassy which followed a protest in Tahrir Square. A protest opposing the emergency law also took place in Tahrir Square last Friday, but failed to attract large numbers of protesters. The parties organising the demonstrations have formed committees to secure the march and prevent infiltrators and thugs from entering and causing trouble. The parties hope that this will prevent a repeat of the incident at the Israeli embassy. The march comes as the Interior Minister, Mansour Al-Issawi, confirms that the Egyptian forces will shoot anyone who attempts to break into the Ministry. He denied that snipers would be stationed on the rooftops surrounding Tahrir Square. In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al-Issawi addedd that had he controlled the Interior Ministry on January 30th (the day it was attacked during the revolution), he would have stopped the attack and dealt with the protesters. Al-Issawi added that those who died in Tahrir Square were martyrs, but those who died in front of police stations are thugs. A number of political movements participated in the march, including the Revolutionary Youth coalition, the Popular Democratic Alliance Party, the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party, the April 6th Movement, the Government of the Revolution and the campaign to support Mohamed El-Baradei.