 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 August 2000 Issue No. 495 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 August 2000 Issue No. 495
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The long good-bye
By Shaden Shehab
Although Fouad Serageddin died on 9 August, his funeral was delayed until Saturday, 12 August, due to security precautions and the usual preparations required for such a historic event. And it was historic indeed. The funeral was attended by high-level government officials and old and young men and women of all social classes, although many might have imagined the Wafd Party was only popular with the rich segments of society and best remembered by the old.
At noon, a select number, headed by Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, prayed for his soul. Attendance was restricted due to the presence of government officials and lack of space in the Omar Makram Mosque in central Tahrir Square. Government officials included a representative of President Hosni Mubarak, Ashraf Bakir, Presidential Adviser Osama El-Baz, Speaker of the People's Assembly Fathi Sorour, Speaker of the Shura Council Mustafa Kamal Helmi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali, Minister of Information Safwat El-Sherif, Interior Minister Habib El-Adli, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Kamal El-Shazli, Higher Education Minister Moufid Shehab, Finance Minister Medhat Hassanein and Health Minister Ismail Sallam. Among the prominent figures were Ibrahim Nafie, board chairman and chief editor of Al-Ahram, leaders of political parties, businessmen and Arab officials.
Before the prayers were offered, El-Shazli said "Fouad Serageddin was the dearest of men; he gave the nation a great deal and history will always remember this man."
Sheikh Tantawi said, "We bid farewell to a man who served the nation for over 60 years. He was a man in the true meaning of the word. We ask mercy and forgiveness for him."
As soon as the prayers were completed, hundreds of people outside the mosque pushed their way through to be near a station-wagon waiting to carry the coffin. To avoid possible chaos, hundreds of central security forces, wielding batons, tried to contain the rowdy crowd of mourners. Policemen formed human chains, allowing only dozens of people through at a time, every now and then, to join the others who had previously made it close to the mosque. But, as a result, the grieving crowds were annoyed and some clashed with the police. Others were enraged and expressed anger at the police's recourse to force against mourners, treating as if they had broken the law.
The Interior Ministry had proposed to Wafd Party officials and Serageddin's family a military funeral in which the cortege was to be carried on a horse-drawn gun-carriage, preceded by lines of police officers carrying flowers. But they refused, insisting that the masses be allowed to join the funeral and bid Serageddin the last farewell.
Nevertheless, throngs of people stubbornly made their way through, trying to grab the coffin, others brandished pictures of the late Wafd leader, while some chanted: "There is no God but God, and Serageddin is his beloved".
As the coffin, draped in the Egyptian flag, neared the station-wagon, security tightened and the people went frantic, chanting loudly, "The Wafd.. the Wafd will never die" and "there is no God but God." The station-wagon was barely able to move amidst the crowds. Using the horn almost incessantly, it took the driver nearly an hour to slowly advance to the edge of Garden City. The crowds then dispersed, some taking the buses provided by the party for transportation to the site of the burial ceremony at the Basateen cemetery.
