ONE of the vital gains of the January 25 Revolution is that the people now enjoy the right to hold peaceful protests and strikes. Restrictions have been lifted on such demonstrations, as long as they do not lead to unrest, threaten public utilities and production, promote sectarian strife or chaos, or impede the efforts being made by the State to restore security and stability. In the wake of such gains, it should be mandatory on the protesters themselves to do all they can to prevent any attempt by outsiders to disrupt their peaceful rallies and sit-ins, which have become a legitimate means for the public to express their demands, as well as safeguarding the revolution's goals. This is why many people shunned a call made by certain political powers to participate in last Friday's rally, which had been dubbed by some political powers as the ‘August 24 Revolution', whose intention was to unseat the democratically elected President, Mohamed Morsi. Many supporters of the January 25 Revolution stayed away from a demonstration which only attracted a few dozen people, although it had been billed as a test of President Morsi's popularity on the street. Those few protesters who did actually turn up claimed that President Morsi is seeking to monopolise power, after earlier this month wresting back prerogatives that the military council, which ruled Egypt for 18 months after Mubarak's fall, had sought to retain for itself. They also demanded that President Morsi repeal a constitutional declaration which has given him the powers the military had for legislating in the absence of Parliament, dissolved by the Army shortly before his election. Morsi's opponents failed to mobilise many Egyptians for Friday's protest because they forgot that the President, propelled to the presidency via fair elections, has constantly stressed that he is a president for all Egyptians, regardless of their political and religious affiliations, and that intends to stabilise and comprehensively develop the nation. Wise Egyptians realise that last Friday's protest was an attempt to put a spanner in the works, obstructing this development, which was they boycotted it.
