Solidarity calling

Egyptians took to the streets to protest the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, reports Mohamed El-Sayed

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First it was Palestine. Then it was Iraq. And now it's Lebanon. Egyptian demonstrators couldn't but add the latter to their already weighty list of Arab countries they used to show solidarity with.

The demonstrations in solidarity with the Lebanese people started on Friday at Al-Azhar Mosque. Following the Friday prayer more than 5,000 people gathered to voice their support for Lebanese and Palestinian resistance. On the same day, the Egyptian Movement for Change (Kifaya) organised a demonstration in front of a mosque in Al-Tawfiqiya, but police forces intervened to end the protest.

The Muslim Brotherhood members also took to the streets on the same day to show solidarity with the Lebanese and Palestinians. They organised many demonstrations across the country on Friday. Thousands of the members of the banned, albeit tolerated, group demonstrated in the Delta governorates of Daqahliya and Damietta and called for raising funds for the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples.

Two days later, on Sunday, a large number of riot police forces gathered along Qasr Al-Aini Street along with police trucks that queued in an attempt to contain the 100 or so Egyptians who gathered in front of the Arab Physicians' Syndicate to condemn the Israeli aggression on Lebanon. The demonstration, which was called for via e-mails, SMS and newspapers, was organised by the Egyptian Physicians' Syndicate with the participation of Kifaya, Youth for Change, the Egyptian Committee for Combating Imperialism and Zionism, the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other political forces.

Wrapping their heads with Hizbullah banners, the demonstrators began their protest by voicing their support for the Lebanese resistance led by Hizbullah. They kept waving the Lebanese and Palestinian flags, and ended the demonstration by burning the Israeli flag. "Oh Hizbullah! Oh Hamas! Hold fast" shouted the enthusiastic demonstrators at the top of their lungs. The demonstrators took the opportunity to voice support for the Iraqi resistance.

"Resistance is the solution," the protesters angrily yelled. While upholding images of Lebanese and Palestinian victims of the Israeli aggression, they called upon the Egyptian government to expel the Israeli and American ambassadors in Egypt.

The gathering seized the opportunity to vent their fury over home politics. "Jerusalem will not be free unless Cairo is free," they shouted. "Freedom for Ayman Nour! Freedom for [Muslim Brotherhood] Essam El-Erian!" shouted the angry crowd. They went as far as calling upon President Hosni Mubarak to leave office so long as he was incapable of helping the Lebanese people.

Protesters couldn't hide their lack of hope that their demonstrations would change anything. "I'm frustrated and fed up with all what's happening in the region and here," said a 40-year- old demonstrator. "The next step will be invading Cairo," he added. "All what we can do is to raise our voices in support of the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, but if our voices became louder, we would be arrested," he bitterly added.

On Sunday, the bar association organised a demonstration calling for people to go for a holy war in Lebanon and Palestine. Holding the image of Hassan Nasrallah side by side with that of late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, protesters condemned "the weakness of Arab regime vis-à-vis the Israeli aggression".

"The decisions taken at the Arab foreign ministers emergency meeting didn't live up to Arab street expectations," noted Sameh Ashour, chairman of the Egyptian and Arab bar associations. Ashour announced that a bank account would be opened for those who want to donate to the Lebanese and Palestinians.

Ashour harshly criticised those who call for the convening of an emergency Arab summit, for, in his opinion, "Arab leaders are not able to take any [decisive] stand." He called upon Arab governments to allow Arab people to "defend the causes of the Arab nations and fight Israeli aggression".

Meanwhile, a general protest in solidarity with the Palestinian and the Lebanese peoples took place on Monday in all the headquarters of the professional associations across the country.

Yesterday, a peaceful protest organised by the Prisoners of Conscience Committee was scheduled to take place in front of the Lebanese Embassy to show support for Hizbullah.