Opposition Planning ‘Something Big’ for Friday, Says Egyptian Journalist
Cecily Hilleary VoA News: Egyptian Police and protestors clashed for the second day in a row Wednesday, in spite of warnings by the Interior Ministry.Throughout the day, Internet activists used Facebook, blogs and Twitter pages to issue calls for continued demonstrations across the country. Wael Abbas is an Egyptian journalist and cyberactivist. VOA’s Cecily Hilleary reached him at his Cairo home Wednesday evening and asked him for his assessment of the situation.
Hilleary: Let’s start with the situation in Cairo tonight. We’ve heard reports that demonstrators have taken to the streets, that they are being fired upon with rubber bullets. What can you tell us?
Abbas: Yes, all what you said is correct. There are lots of demonstrators all over downtown Cairo now. Police are retaliating using rubber bullets and tear gas and sometimes the protesters throw stones and use clubs against them. The soldiers are not carrying guns, but some of the [police] officers carry guns and they hide inside their armored vehicles and shoot at the protesters. Sometimes it’s live bullets and sometimes it’s rubber bullets.
Abbas: I was yesterday but not today. Not yet.
Hilleary: Now, the government of Egypt has said that it will forbid these kinds of protests.
Abbas: Yes, I think that they are going to declare a curfew also. Somebody said on Twitter that they announced on Al Jazeera [TV] that there’s going to be a curfew at ten p.m. tonight.
Hilleary: I had heard that protesters are calling for protests again tomorrow and they’re planning something big on Friday.
Abbas: Yes, Friday after prayers. It’s on Facebook. And the people are calling for something big on Friday after prayers, all over Egypt. Lots of activists are saying that the people should continue demonstrating today and tomorrow, in order to gain momentum for something bigger to happen on Friday.
Hilleary: There are those who say that what happened in Tunisia cannot happen in Egypt. There are others who feel that perhaps it can. What’s your take on the situation?
Abbas: I cannot say that both are wrong or both are right. But it can happen, who knows? I personally was surprised. I was very skeptical about yesterday, but I was surprised to see this very huge number of people taking to the streets and Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. They are mostly people who have never been involved in politics and never have been involved in protests or anything. And I expect that more people are going to join.
Hilleary: I spoke with Nabil Fahmy late last week. He told me that he didn’t believe you could have a Tunisia-style uprising in Egypt for one important reason - that there’s more freedom of expression in Egypt, that people are able to access blogs and various internet sites, social networking sites….
Abbas: That’s a big lie. That’s a big lie. Especially since today and yesterday, they started blocking Twitter and Facebook and two opposition newspapers and one website we are using to broadcast live videos from the streets. And also, they have disabled lots of phone lines belonging to activists, in order to render them useless and disable them from talking to their colleagues or talking to the world.
Hilleary: Have we seen any arrests of bloggers and other activists, such as what we saw in the early days of Tunisia?
Abbas: Yes, there are lots of arrests of bloggers, but they are arresting them from the streets. Some of them were even arrested from the headquarters of some parties, like a blogger was arrested from the Democratic Front Party in Port Said. And others were arrested during the demonstrations.
Hilleary: The people in the streets - what is it that they are asking for?
Abbas: Well, all what they are calling [for] now - and the main chant that they have in the streets right now—is to remove [President Hosni] Mubarak.
Hilleary: So they’re not asking for reforms, they’re not asking for lower food prices, lower energy prices?
Abbas: They are asking for all that. But they now realize that this is not going to happen unless Mubarak is removed.
Hilleary: What is the alternative to President Hosni Mubarak?
Abbas: The alternative is the people themselves. The alternative is institutions. Instead of one presidential institution controlling everything, there should be lots of other institutions being active in Egypt- and this is how democracy is going to happen. We are not going to replace one person with only one person. Or we will be doing nothing.
Hilleary: In Tunisia, we saw the military, the police, were sympathetic to the people. In the event of an uprising in Egypt, where would you see the military going?
Abbas: I don’t know. I think that the military will focus only on their own business, because the military in Egypt is mainly business at the moment. So they will try to maintain their interests.
Hilleary: In other words, their interests are with the current government?
Abbas: Yes. Or with another government that will keep their benefits.
Hilleary: I had read one account that Mr. Mubarak’s son, Gamal, had left the country. Do you know anything about that?
Abbas: There are lots of rumors about that, but nothing has been confirmed. But I can tell you only that the Egyptian stock exchange has lost 25 billion pounds after its opening this morning.
Hilleary: And what does that tell you?
Abbas: It tells me that lots of investors and foreign investors are withdrawing their money and that the demonstrations in Egypt are taking effect.
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