The call to shoot demonstrators on sight caused a stormy debate in parliament The People's Assembly, or Egypt's Lower House of parliament, was on Sunday the site of a fierce verbal clash between the deputies of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and opposition MPs, mostly belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, reports Gamal Essam El-Din. NDP MPs exploited their majority in parliament to vote against punishing their colleague Nashaat El-Qassas, a lawmaker from the governorate of North Sinai. Ahmed Ezz, the NDP's secretary for organisational affairs and chairman of parliament's Budget Committee, strongly defended El-Qassas, arguing that his speech in a parliamentary committee on 18 April, that pro-democracy demonstrators of the 6 April Youth Movement should be shot, "was just a slip of the tongue". "El-Qassas regreted that his words had caused such alarm and said he was ready to apologise," Ezz said, adding that, "NDP leaders had also found that El-Qassas's call to shoot demonstrators was motivated by personal enthusiasm and a sincere interest that streets in Cairo remain safe against violent acts and that armed rioters do not infiltrate demonstrations and attack policemen." As a result, Ezz argued that, "El-Qassas should be blamed but this is quite enough." NDP MPs rallied behind Ezz, agreeing that El-Qassas should be pardoned because he apologised and admitted he was wrong. "The Quran tells us to forgive people who admit their mistakes," said Salama El-Rikie, an NDP MP from North Sinai. In a letter sent to parliament speaker Fathi Sorour on 26 April, El-Qassas said, "I sincerely apologise for what I said during the joint meeting of the National Defence and Human Rights committees on 18 April. What I said in the meeting was prompted by sincere enthusiasm to keep the streets secure, however, it is too bad that some misunderstood what I said as a call to incite police officers to shoot demonstrators," said El-Qassas. "As I have realised that my words have done a great deal of harm to the image of my person, my party and to parliament itself, I truly apologise." El-Qassas vowed that his call for shooting demonstrators will never be repeated, "because it was just a slip of the tongue". The defence of Ezz and El-Qassas, however, did not go down well with opposition MPs who lashed out at NDP leaders, accusing them of playing double standards in parliament. Hussein Ibrahim, a Brotherhood MP, cried foul that NDP leaders intervened to save El-Qassas "because they are the ones who incited him to call for shooting demonstrators. El-Qassas is on top of a list of NDP deputies who are regularly exploited by the party leaders to attack the opposition and disrupt meetings aimed at discussing security issues," said Ibrahim, insisting that El-Qassas "had insulted opposition MPs on many previous occasions and his verbal attacks against demonstrators are nothing new and were by no means a slip of the tongue." Joining forces with Ibrahim, independent MP Alaa Abdel-Moneim said, "El-Qassas and two other deputies should be harshly punished after they had openly called on 18 April for demonstrators to be shot." To Abdel-Moneim, NDP's pardon of El-Qassas's call "was a flagrant example of double standards. The NDP had previously used its majority to inflict severe punishment on several opposition and independent MPs although the wrong they had done was far less outrageous than the words and remarks uttered by El-Qassas during the parliamentary meeting on 18 April," said Abdel-Moneim. According to a six-page report prepared by the assembly's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, El-Qassas said on 18 April that, "in case a street demonstration which was licensed by the Interior Ministry becomes a big danger to security, police officers, instead of using water hoses to disperse it, should shoot directly... execute... execute because demonstrators in this case are outlaws." In comment, the report said, "El-Qassas should not have said these words because parliamentarians are the ones who should be the keenest to defend the freedoms and rights of people." Parliament speaker Sorour joined forces with NDP MPs, arguing that "directing blame to an MP is a very harsh punishment." Street demonstrations caused another verbal clash, also on Sunday. In a message sent to Sorour, Interior Minister Habib El-Adli announced that security forces were strongly against six independent MPs leading a street demonstration on Monday calling for putting an end to the 29-year-old state of emergency and amending the constitution and laws to ensure the integrity of elections. The MPs were leftists Alaa Abdel-Moneim, Gamal Zahran, Hamdeen Sabahi, Saad Aboud, and Brotherhood MPs Hamdi Hassan and Mohamed El-Beltagui. "These MPs decided not to respond positively to security forces which reject licensing any political demonstrations," El-Adli's message said, urging that "MPs should be at the forefront of those who are keen on respecting the law and that they have many other forums to express their opinions." According to Sorour, the Interior Ministry is empowered by Law 14/1923 which does not approve licensing street demonstrations. "Those who insist on standing against the will of security forces can face six months in jail." Independent MPs, however, reacted furiously to El-Adli's message and a verbal clash ensued. Mohamed El-Beltagui, a Brotherhood MP and an Ain Shams University professor, described El-Adli's message "a direct insult to parliament aimed at intimidating independent MPs whose roles are primarily exercised to safeguard the rights of citizens against the repression of the emergency law and to preserve their right to vote in free elections." Throwing up a challenge to security forces, El-Beltagui insisted that "the 3 May demonstration would be organised and that the Interior Ministry would be shouldered the responsibility of safeguarding demonstrators." In reaction, Ezz accused El-Beltagui and other independent MPs of "implementing a foreign agenda. "Those who dream of implementing American democracy in Egypt should stop doing so," Ezz said, arguing that "the people of Cairo, who number between 14 million to 18 million, will not participate in this demonstration simply because they do not sympathise with a foreign agenda." According to Ezz, "the people of Cairo are well aware that they are a free people and that foreign agendas aim at sowing the seeds of sedition and chaos." Ezz's words enraged Brotherhood MP Hamdi Hassan who said security forces "should protect MPs who want to support the political rights of citizens rather than protect deputies who ask for shooting demonstrators or who are implicated in drug trafficking." Ezz responded by telling Hassan, "there is a red line that independent MPs should not cross because they could face punishment." Ezz charged that the 3 May demonstration was motivated more by the interests of independent MPs in conducting interviews with television satellite channels than in raising the slogans of political reform. Speaker Sorour intervened, indicating it was "premature to allege that the state of emergency would be extended. I vow that if the government decides to extend the state of emergency, I will grant opposition MPs the full right to express their rejection of this move," said Sorour. The state of emergency is to expire at the end of this month, with many expecting it will be extended until 2012. NDP MPs also rejected on Sunday a draft law prepared by Brotherhood MP Hussein Ibrahim which sought to change the 1923 law regulating demonstrations. Ibrahim said this "old law should be amended to make it much easier for Egyptians to organise street demonstrations in a civilised way." Omar El-Taher, NDP deputy chairman of the Legislative Committee, said the 1923 law should not be amended "because it proved quite effective in maintaining order and safety on Egyptian streets."
