Egypt’s youth movement loses luster

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By Leila Fadel

CAIRO — Members of a youth movement that spearheaded the protests that forced President Hosni Mubarak from power face an uphill battle as they try to recapture the public’s support ahead of the Jan. 25 anniversary of the start of Egypt’s revolution.

This time their target is Egypt’s military council, which retains strong public backing. Liberals have fared poorly in the country’s parliamentary elections, badly outshone by Islamist candidates who appear likely to claim three times as many seats.

The April 6 youth movement itself has shrunken in stature against a backdrop of economic woes and instability, including months of clashes between security forces and demonstrators that have disrupted daily lives. Although the group once had near-heroic status, its troubles have been compounded by the ruling military’s success in portraying the group as agents of a foreign-backed insurrection.

Together with other youth groups and activists, the group is now trying to organize mass protests Jan. 25 to demand the immediate transfer of power from the military to the newly elected parliament, which is expected to be seated soon.

But although leaders of the group say its ranks have swelled over the past year, to 20,000 members from a base of 3,000, they also acknowledge that the organization’s reputation has been diminished in the eyes of many Egyptians, a fate they blame on the military and its supporters.

"They destroyed our reputations. This is more dangerous than detention or arrest,” Ahmed Maher, the leader of the movement, said of the military leaders. “They have the most powerful weapon of all: the media.”

In July, the military issued a statement accusing the April 6 group of “driving a wedge between the army and the people.” A member of the military council accused the group of getting illicit training in Serbia, and last week four members of a splinter group of the organization were arrested and released on bail after distributing fliers critical of the military council.

“Now anyone who creates any problem, people accuse them of being April 6,” said Engy Hamdy, a leading member of the movement.

The April 6 group soared to prominence after helping to orchestrate the protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster. A poll taken last April by the Pew Foundation found that 38 percent of Egyptians regarded the organization as a favorable agent of change, a better showing than the Muslim Brotherhood and one that trailed only Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council, and Amr Moussa, the former foreign minister who became a popular opposition figure.

But the group has chosen since to focus on street activism. There have been no recent opinion polls to gauge its popularity, but the recent parliamentary elections suggested that its support has faded badly, with only 2 percent of seats now projected to go to the Revolution Continues Party, the faction most similar to the April 6 organization.

Altogether, liberal parties are now projected to take about 20 percent of parliamentary seats, compared with 62 percent projected to go to Islamist officeholders, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood and more conservative Salafists.

Political activists, including liberals and Islamists, continue to accuse the military rulers of botching the transitional rule, working against democracy and fatally cracking down on unarmed protesters. As many as 100 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since October, and in the most recent unrest, unarmed women, as well as men, were beaten.

To counter the narrative, April 6 is resorting to the tactics it successfully employed a year ago: social media campaigns, demonstrations, graffiti art, online statements and fliers recounting military abuses.

The group is also staging daily marches ahead of the Jan. 25 anniversary — despite warnings in government-controlled newspapers that the date will be used by conspirators to destroy Egypt.

“Their power in the immediate aftermath of the January uprising was to reach out to people who were not previously politicized,” said Heba Morayef, an Egypt researcher for Human Rights Watch. “But from July onwards the military successfully constructed a narrative to delegitimize April 6 and to make associating with them dangerous.”

The polarized feelings were evident at a recent rally in the affluent Cairo suburb of Maadi, where supporters of the April 6 group chanted slogans against military rule but others looked on warily.

“These are our enemies,” Mohammed Samaha, a 34-year-old, said as he scowled and gestured at the protesters. “April 6 are agents, trained in Serbia by Freedom House and the United States.”Among others scurrying past was Fatma Abdelaal, a mother of two college-aged children, who said she wanted nothing to do with the demonstration.

“Enough with the protests. We want calm,” Abdelaal muttered. “We’re grateful that the revolution deposed Mubarak. I’m sad for the martyrs but the Egyptian army is the best in the world.”

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By SARAH EL DEEB | Associated Press:

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military officials moved swiftly Saturday to prosecute protesters they blamed for an attack on the Defense Ministry, in an attempt to put down increasingly violent protests against their authority just weeks before the country's presidential election.

The fierce street battles on Friday raised to new heights the tension between the generals, who assumed power after Hosni Mubarak stepped down last year, and their critics, predominently secular and liberal groups but now spearheaded by hard-line Islamists.

At least a hundred protesters have been killed in violent confrontations with security agencies since Mubarak's ouster. But the military's response to Friday's demonstration near its headquarters was significant in how swiftly they moved to detain protesters.

Military prosecutors interrogated hundreds of demonstrators, referring some 300 of them to 15 days detention pending investigation into accusations of attacking troops and disrupting public order, a prosecution official said Saturday.

At least two detainees face accusations of killing a soldier in the Friday violence, the official said.

Political tension between the ruling generals and different groups in Egypt has been building during an election run-up marred by legal pitfalls, a lack of clarity in the authorities of the next president and a growing fear among activists that the military is seeking to back a candidate it can trust to preserve its economic interests and a special political role in the future.

Secular forces have accused the generals of seeking to cling to power; but Islamists have only recently joined the chorus.

After issuing warnings against approaching the defense ministry, the military was quick to react when protesters tried to break through the barbed wire. Police forces used water canons, tear gas and live ammunition to break up the crowd. Hundreds were detained in a security crackdown as the protesters dispersed.

Tensions started to brew a week ago. Protesters, predominantly supporters of an ultraconservative presidential candidate who was barred from the election, held a sit-in outside the ministry starting last Saturday.

Deadly clashes broke out when apparent supporters of the military rulers attacked the crowd Wednesday.

Nine people were killed in those clashes, which drew in antimilitary protesters from different revolutionary groups. They called for a rally Friday, demanding the generals stick to their pledges to step down after the election.

As Islamists increasingly feel they are losing out in the jockeying for power, some of them have become louder in their criticism of the military generals. Two prominent Islamist presidential candidates were disqualified from the race on technical grounds.

The ultraconservative candidate was disqualified because his mother held dual Egyptian-American nationality, a violation of the law.

The powerful Muslim Brotherhood's candidate was disqualified because of a previous political conviction under Mubarak's rule, also a violation.

The group, which won nearly 50 percent of the parliament seats, is fielding another candidate but they have been frustrated with translating their parliament success into political power.

The group organized a parallel rally on Friday in Tahrir Square, refusing to join the march on the Ministry of Defense. But on Saturday, it criticized the military authorities' quick move to prosecute those who attacked their headquarters while doing little to prosecute those who killed civilians near the ministry on Wednesday.

The Brotherhood described it as "astonishing and surprising."

The tension between the military and Islamist critics has given the ruling military council a chance to sway public opinion to its side. Many secular and liberal Egyptians fear the growing power of Islamists, and many see the military as the only institution that can lead the country's transition to democracy.

On Saturday, the state-controlled media focused on the Islamist role in the violent clashes, replaying images of bearded young men and women removing the barbed wire, throwing stones, and gesturing at the troops.

An analyst hosted by state TV said the protesters against the military were "traitors" to the nation.

The circumstances surrounding the deadly clashes on Wednesday remain unclear.

Residents and activists said some of the protesters were armed and provoked the situation.

Islamist protesters said the assailants were hired thugs or plainclothes security. They blamed the military for doing nothing to stop the fighting and said authorities planted armed people among them to frame them for the violence.

A military official said the dead soldier was shot by someone inside the mosque. He was speaking on condition of anonymity according to military regulations.

The official said a curfew will remain in place again Saturday around the ministry.

In an apparent good will gesture, the military general prosecutor Adel el-Morsi ordered the release of all female detainees rounded up following the clashes. El-Morsi didn't give a reason, but troops have previously been criticized for targeting female protesters.