Despite the hype over the 24 August anti-Brotherhood demonstration, several experts and political analysts predicted its failure, Reem Leila reports Most political groups refrained from participating in the long-awaited and much talked about Friday 24 August protest against the Islamisation of the country. Former MP Mohamed Abu Hamed, along with Tawfiq Okasha, the owner of a satellite TV station, were among those who called for the "one million man march" or the "second revolution" to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood and end their dominance of the state's affairs. In the end, the two-day protest witnessed an extremely low turnout, with little more than 5,000 participants. A few thousand protesters gathered in front of the presidential palace in Heliopolis chanting against the Brotherhood as well as the Islamisation of the country, while a few others gathered at Al-Nasr Road in Nasr City to be joined later by thousands of protesters at Tahrir Square. Demonstrators held banners expressing their opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood. "Islam has nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood", "No to the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood" and "We want a civil country not one of the Brotherhood". The Health Ministry announced that four people were hospitalised after they were shot in Tahrir. Ten others were injured and received treatment at the scene. This, despite the fact that the Ministry of Interior safeguarded buildings, people and protesters. Demonstrators remained in Tahrir Square until late into the night on Friday. Others continued their protest in front of the presidential palace and decided to hold a sit-in there. Police forces who surrounded the palace with barricades and barbed wire and banned traffic in the area, removed tents set up by those who staged a sit-in on 27 August to open the way for traffic. In Alexandria, thugs attacked protesters, resulting in the death of one demonstrator and the injury of 16 others. In Suez hundreds of protesters gathered at Al-Arbaeen Square where they chanted against the rule of the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie. In Minya governorate, one sole protester demonstrated in Al-Horreya (Freedom) Square holding a banner condemning the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite the widespread calls for the protests on social networking sites twitter and Facebook for weeks, the turnout was surprisingly low. Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Ahmed Abu Baraka who refused to call it a second revolution believed that the 24 August demonstration was doomed to fail. Abu Baraka said masses do not usually protest against a democratically elected president after only 50 days in office. "They have chosen him, so how can they protest against him? People prefer giving the president his full chance before questioning his accomplishments or protesting against him," Abu Baraka said. According to Abu Baraka, the protest's failure was expected because those who were calling for it did not have any charisma; all of them, he said, are unpopular. "So how would people follow them?" he asked. This is in addition to the ambiguity of the demonstrators' aims. "Did they want to topple the democratically elected president or to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood? Protesters were confused, and were confusing matters. What does the president have to do with the Muslim Brotherhood? It is true, he belongs to them, yet he is a president for all Egyptians with all their different factions. He is not a president of only the Muslim Brotherhood." Other experts who supported the demonstrations believed that the timing was poorly chosen. Former MP Mustafa Bakri pointed out that the call should have been postponed until the honeymoon period of 100 days had ended. "I am among those doubters who believe that it is the Muslim Brotherhood and its guide who are actually ruling the country and not the freely elected President Mohamed Mursi. Mursi, who is a leading figure of the group does not want and is unable to get rid of the dominance of the Muslim Brotherhood and their guide," Bakri said. Bakri criticised the Brotherhood for allowing their youth to stone protesters who gathered in front of the group's headquarters. "These attacks simply reveal deep weakness and fear inside them as well as a serious deficiency in their tolerance to any practice of democracy. Any democracy which contradicts with them, or any one of them or against their goals, is not considered by them democracy. To them it is chaos and sabotage." Bakri criticised what he called Mursi's complete devotion to the Muslim Brotherhood. "Since he is the elected president he should act as a president to all Egyptians not only to the Muslim Brotherhood," he said. Bakri, who is also an opposition writer, stated that since Mursi came to power he has been trying to Islamise "each and every single entity in the country. There are strong attempts to Islamise the press, in addition to their Islamisation of the country's syndicates, associations and ministries. Mursi should be the one who is ruling, not the Muslim Brotherhood. He is the sole ruler of the country. The people elected him, not them." Bakri also condemned Mursi's "sugar-coated" vows which he repeatedly made during his presidential campaign. Mursi promised to leave the presidential palace if protesters ever chanted against him. "Now that demonstrators are chanting against him, why doesn't he leave the presidency? They -- Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood -- always say what they do not intend to do," Bakri added. Several political affiliations including the Youth Revolution Coalition, 6 April, the Democratic Front and the Revolutionary Socialists boycotted 24 August though they are on record as not supporting either Mursi or the Muslim Brotherhood. The official page of 6 April on Facebook issued a statement declaring that while the movement "disagrees with the Muslim Brotherhood in their political methodology as well as their means of solving problems, this does not mean to protest against the president and the Muslim Brotherhood. People should grant President Mursi a chance to accomplish his mission. If he fails then the whole population will work to topple him as they did before with ousted president Hosni Mubarak," the statement said. The Coalition for Egypt's Copts announced its request. "We want a civil, not military state nor a country dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. We also want the president to get rid of the dominance of the Muslim Brotherhood on him, the government and the whole country," said Fadi Youssef, founder of the coalition. Youssef stated that coalition members would leave the streets as soon as their demands are met. "If they are not met, escalation is our only option, yet all forms of escalation will be peaceful." Political analyst Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said people had the right to stage demonstrations as long as they are conducted in a peaceful manner without damaging public property. At the same time, Nafaa was among those who predicted the failure of Friday's demonstrations. "I support the freedom of expression but the timing was wrong. The people have been suppressed for more than 30 years and want to see change. Mursi is the change they were looking for, however, he did not prove a success until now and is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood�ê� he is trying to do what he considers the best for the people. We have to wait and see," said Nafaa. According to Nafaa, the problem now is that the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters will act as if they have received "divine legitimacy. They will believe that the numbers of protesters on the streets on 24 August is the true size of their opposition. This is not the true opposition that the Muslim Brotherhood will face and is facing, and they will be fooling themselves if they think so. People are monitoring, watching and waiting, but they won't do so for long. If what they are expecting does not transpire, then everyone should expect the actual second revolution."
