Mubarak verdict fuels protests, mockery in Egypt

By Amr Dalsh
CAIRO, Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:01am EST

1 of 3. Anti-Mubarak protesters shout slogans against government and military rules after the verdict of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's trial, around Abdel Moneim Riad square in downtown Cairo November 29, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
CAIRO, (Reuters) - Protests erupted at universities across Egypt on Sunday, condemning a court decision to drop criminal charges against Hosni Mubarak, the president whose ouster in the 2011 uprising raised hopes of a new era of political openness.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Cairo University, waving pictures of Mubarak behind bars and demanding the "fall of the regime", the rallying cry of the Arab Spring uprisings that shook governments from Tunisia to the Gulf in 2011.
Police stood ready at the gates to bar students that sought to take their demonstration into the streets.
An Egyptian court on Saturday dropped its case against Mubarak over the killing of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule.
The ruling was seen by activists as the latest sign that the rights won during the revolt are being eroded.
Two people were killed and nine were wounded on Saturday evening, when security forces fired tear gas and birdshot to disperse about 1,000 protesters who attempted to enter Tahrir Square -- the symbolic heart of the revolt that ousted Mubarak.
Security forces closed a Cairo metro station, the state news agency said, an apparent effort to prevent gatherings downtown.
Clashes also erupted at Zagazig University in the Nile Delta, and the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said 11 students were detained after setting fire to a building.
Many Egyptians who lived through the rule of former air force officer Mubarak view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism.
His overthrow led to Egypt's first free election. But the winner, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted last year by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, another military officer who won a presidential vote in May.
Egyptian authorities have since jailed Mursi and thousands of his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, sentencing hundreds to death in mass trials that drew international criticism.
By contrast, Mubarak-era figures have been released and new laws curtailing political freedoms have raised fears among activists that the old leadership is back.
"Down with Hosni Mubarak, down with every Mubarak, down with military rule" said one Facebook page that called for protests against the ruling.
The verdict has also prompted a deluge of online cartoons about the return of the old guard.
One animated video begins with a group of Mubarak-era politicians in a darkened cell facing an array of charges. One by one they are released and end up celebrating their freedom with their former president, singing "yes, we are back".
(Reporting by Amr Dalsh, Ali Abdelaty and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Three dead in attack and Islamist protests in Egypt

CAIRO Fri Nov 28, 2014 7:00pm EST

1 of 13. Army soldiers take their positions with their armoured personnel vehicle during clashes with supporters of Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi in the Cairo suburb of Matariya November 28, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
CAIRO (Reuters) - Three people including an army general were killed and at least 28 wounded on Friday in militant attacks, some claimed by a group loyal to Islamic State, and clashes at Islamist protests around Egypt, security sources and health officials said.
Police were out in force at the demonstrations, organized by a hardline Salafi group calling for removal of the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief who led the overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.
In Matariya, focal point for protests in Cairo, a civilian died before the gathering was dispersed, security sources said.
Hours before, an army brigadier general was killed and two soldiers wounded when gunmen in an unmarked car fired on a parking lot in nearby Gesr al-Suez, they said. One soldier later died.
The demonstrations were small. Reuters witnesses saw just 100 or 200 people in Matariya.
The Interior Ministry said it thwarted 10 planned bombings and arrested 224 people nationwide on Friday.
One officer was shot in Alexandria and a bomb injured four police in the Nile Delta town of Sharqiya. In Al-Arish, in largely lawless northern Sinai province, a bomb wounded six policemen, security sources said.
Violence also erupted in Beni Soueif, a southern town, and Kafr Sheikh in the Delta, they said.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, appeared to take responsibility for some attacks via what claims to be its official Twitter account.
Ansar has pledged loyalty to Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni militants that captured territory in Iraq and Syria, and claimed responsibility for shooting the general, the Sinai bomb and another attack in Qalyubiyah province.
Reuters could not confirm the group's claims.
Since Mursi's ouster, Egypt has cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, arresting thousands and sentencing hundreds to death in trials that drew international criticism.
Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters were killed in August 2013 when security forces cleared two protest camps in one of the bloodiest days in Egypt's modern history.
That crackdown and laws banning unsanctioned protests have dampened enthusiasm for the kind of mass rallies that helped remove President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and Mursi last year.
Authorities have tried to curb radical preaching, replacing thousands of imams and controlling Friday sermons.
The Salafi Front designated Friday's protests the "Uprising of Islamist Youth", alienating secular critics of Sisi and limiting turnout.
(Reporting by Shadi Bushra, Mostafa Hashem and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Andrew Roche and Gunna Dickson)

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