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More Than 200,000 Gather in Tahrir Square to Challenge Egypt’s Islamist President: ‘Bring Down the Regime!’

Nov. 27, 2012 9:03pm Jason Howerton

More Than 200,000 Gather in Tahrir Square to Challenge Egypts President Morsi

Egyptians chant slogans during a demonstration in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. More than 200,000 people flocked to Cairo’s central Tahrir square on Tuesday, chanting against Egypt’s Islamist president in a powerful show of strength by the opposition demanding Mohammed Morsi revoke edicts granting himself near autocratic powers. (Credit: AP)

CAIRO (AP) — The same chants used against Hosni Mubarak were turned against his successor Tuesday as more than 200,000 people packed Egypt’s Tahrir Square in the biggest challenge yet to Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The massive, flag-waving throng protesting Morsi’s assertion of near-absolute powers rivaled some of the largest crowds that helped drive Mubarak from office last year.

“The people want to bring down the regime!” and “erhal, erhal” – Arabic for “leave, leave” – rang out across the plaza, this time directed at Egypt’s first freely elected president.

The protests were sparked by edicts Morsi issued last week that effectively neutralize the judiciary, the last branch of government he does not control. But they turned into a broader outpouring of anger against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, which opponents say have used election victories to monopolize power, squeeze out rivals and dictate a new, Islamist constitution, while doing little to solve Egypt’s mounting economic and security woes.

Clashes broke out in several cities, with Morsi’s opponents attacking Brotherhood offices, setting fire to at least one. Protesters and Brotherhood members pelted each other with stones and firebombs in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla el-Kobra, leaving at least 100 people injured.

“Power has exposed the Brotherhood. We discovered their true face,” said Laila Salah, a housewife at the Tahrir protest who said she voted for Morsi in last summer’s presidential election. After Mubarak, she said, Egyptians would no longer accept being ruled by an autocrat.

“It’s like a wife whose husband was beating her and then she divorces him and becomes free,” she said. “If she remarries she’ll never accept another day of abuse.”

Gehad el-Haddad, a senior adviser to the Brotherhood and its political party, said Morsi would not back down on his edicts. “We are not rescinding the declaration,” he told The Associated Press.

That sets the stage for a drawn-out battle that could throw the nation into greater turmoil. Protest organizers have called for another mass rally Friday. If the Brotherhood responds with demonstrations of its own, as some of its leaders have hinted, it would raise the prospect of greater violence after a series of clashes between the two camps in recent days.

A tweet by the Brotherhood warned that if the opposition was able to bring out 200,000 to 300,000, “they should brace for millions in support” of Morsi.

Another flashpoint could come Sunday, when the constitutional court is to rule on whether to dissolve the assembly writing the new constitution, which is dominated by the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies. Morsi’s edicts ban the courts from disbanding the panel; if the court defies him and rules anyway, it would be a direct challenge that could spill over into the streets.

“Then we are in the face of the challenge between the supreme court and the presidency,” said Nasser Amin, head of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession. “We are about to enter a serious conflict” on both the legal and street level, he said.

Egyptian protesters unfurl a large national flag at an opposition rally in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. More than 100,000 people flocked to Cairo’s central Tahrir square on Tuesday, chanting against Egypt’s Islamist president in a powerful show of strength by the opposition demanding Mohammed Morsi revoke edicts granting himself near autocratic powers. (Credit: AP)

Former Egyptian presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi speaks during a demonstration in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. More than 200,000 people flocked to Cairo’s central Tahrir square on Tuesday, chanting against Egypt’s Islamist president in a powerful show of strength by the opposition demanding Mohammed Morsi revoke edicts granting himself near autocratic powers. (Credit: AP)

A protester holds a placard against the Egyptian president at an opposition rally in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. Thousands flocked to Cairo’s central Tahrir square on Tuesday for a protest against Egypt’s president in a significant test of whether the opposition can rally the street behind it in a confrontation aimed at forcing the Islamist leader to rescind decrees that granted him near absolute powers. (Credit: AP)

Former Egyptian presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi smiles moments before speaking during a demonstration in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. More than 200,000 people flocked to Cairo’s central Tahrir square on Tuesday, chanting against Egypt’s Islamist president in a powerful show of strength by the opposition demanding Mohammed Morsi revoke edicts granting himself near autocratic powers. (Credit: AP)

Morsi and his supporters say the decrees were necessary to prevent the judiciary from blocking the “revolution’s goals” of a transition to democracy. The courts – where many Mubarak-era judges still hold powerful posts – have already disbanded the first post-Mubarak elected parliament, which was led by the Brotherhood. Now it could also take aim at the Islamist-led upper house of parliament.

Morsi’s decrees ban the judiciary from doing so and grant his decisions immunity from judicial review. Morsi also gave himself sweeping powers to prevent threats to the revolution, stability or state institutions, which critics say are tantamount to emergency laws. These powers are to remain in effect until the constitution is approved and parliamentary elections are held, not likely before spring 2013.

Opponents say the decrees turn Morsi – who narrowly won last summer’s election with just over 50 percent of the vote – into a new dictator, given that he holds not only executive but also legislative powers, after the lower house of parliament was dissolved.

Tuesday’s turnout was an unprecedented show of strength by the mainly liberal and secular opposition, which has been divided and uncertain amid the rise to power of the Brotherhood over the past year. The crowds were of all stripes, including many first-time protesters.

“Suddenly Morsi is issuing laws and becoming the absolute ruler, holding all powers in his hands,” said Mona Sadek, a 31-year-old engineering graduate who wears the Islamic veil, a hallmark of piety. “Our revolt against the decrees became a protest against the Brotherhood as well.”

“The Brotherhood hijacked the revolution,” agreed Raafat Magdi, an engineer who was among a crowd of some 10,000 marching from the Cairo district of Shubra to Tahrir to the beat of drums and chants against the Brotherhood. Reform leader Mohammed ElBaradei led the march.

“People woke up to (Morsi’s) mistakes, and in any new elections they will get no votes,” Magdi said.

Many in the crowd said they were determined to push ahead with the protests until Morsi retreats. A major concern was that Islamists would use the decree’s protection of the constitutional assembly to drive through their vision for the next charter, with a heavy emphasis on implementing Shariah, or Islamic law. The assembly has been plagued with controversy, and more than two dozen of its 100 members have quit in recent days to protest Islamist control.

“Next Friday will be decisive,” protester Islam Bayoumi said of the upcoming rally. “If people maintain the same pressure and come in large numbers, they could manage to press the president and rescue the constitution.”

A fellow protester, Saad Salem Nada, said of Morsi: “I am a Muslim and he made me hate Muslims because of the dictatorship in the name of religion. In the past, we had one Mubarak. Now we have hundreds.”

Even as the crowds swelled in Tahrir, clashes erupted nearby between several hundred protesters throwing stones and police firing tear gas on a street leading to the U.S. Embassy. Clouds of tear gas hung over the area, where clashes have broken out for several days, fueled by anger over police abuses.

A photographer working for the AP, Ahmed Gomaa, was beaten by stick-wielding police while covering the clashes. Police took his equipment and Gomaa was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Rival rallies by Morsi opponents and supporters turned into brief clashes in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where anti-Morsi protesters broke into the local office of the Muslim Brotherhood, throwing furniture out the windows and trying unsuccessfully to set fire to it. Protesters also set fire to Brotherhood offices in the city of Mansoura.

Morsi’s supporters canceled a massive rally planned for Tuesday in Cairo, citing the need to “defuse tension.” Morsi’s supporters say more than a dozen of their offices have been ransacked or set ablaze since Friday. Some 5,000 demonstrated in the southern city of Assiut in support of Morsi’s decrees, according to witnesses there.

So far, there has been little sign of a compromise. On Monday, Morsi met with the nation’s top judges and tried to win their acceptance of his decrees. But the move was dismissed by many in the opposition and the judiciary as providing no real concessions.

Saad Emara, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, said Morsi will not make any concessions, especially after the surge of violence and assaults on Brotherhood offices.

Emara accused the opposition “of resorting to violence with a political cover,” claiming that former ruling party and Mubarak-era businessmen were hiring thugs to attack Brotherhood offices with the opposition’s blessing.

“The story now is that the civilian forces are playing with fire. This is a dangerous scene.”

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Comments (48)

MrKnowItAll
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 11:25pm
Many Guns I may have. But I sure Love building my own Sling Shots from the Slingshot guy on the Blaze. They are POWERFUL. Please make plenty of them in your spare time. I won’t feel so many people will Give up their weapons without a FIGHT, as I feel WILL happen. At least you can have THE same power with some of these slingshots if you are a WUSS. Hide them all OVER the Place. How Stupid will you feel when you look at your Family if you give up your GUNS? Bad things are coming here. Forget the Middle East and everything else. Get READY to Protect AMERICA.

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- November28
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 5:38am
  This is the guy Obama said was going to bring Democrcy to Egypt. Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
  Report this comment
Shadowangel
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 11:06pm
“A tweet by the Brotherhood warned that if the opposition was able to bring out 200,000 to 300,000, they should brace for millions in support of Morsi.”
Assuming he actually won. And also assuming everybody in the Muslim population wants a new dictator. I convinced of neither. He forgets that many of the people who are protesting probably voted for him, assuming he wouldn’t turn into a new dictator.

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RANGER1965
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:57pm
Elections have consequences.

You believed the serpent’s lies and voted him to lead you. You traded an incompetent and benign dictator for pure evil.

Now you must reap what you’ve sown Egypt.

Do not think that this man nor his brothers will give up power. They will not be impressed by your protests, or the concerns of other world leaders, especially Obama who helped install him.

Do not think the military will rebel and save you. They learned their lesson from you the last time. when you had most of the officer corp punished or jailed, for just trying to keep the peace.

You will either stand up to this black hearted tyrant and risk your wealth, your lives, and your sacred honor, or you will lose everything.

If loss is to be your fate then you have only yourselves to blame.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:54pm
You might see a crowd like that here if Barry decides to stay in power,Marxist’s tend to keep power once in office.Some Egyptians see they made a mistake by putting an MB lunatic in power and they’re having buyers remorse. I’m sorry to say they won’t be getting any support from us because the MB man is Barrys man so that means Morsi isn’t stepping down.

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BasketFullOfPuppies
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:35pm
Am I the only one wondering if this is what keeps Egypt out of the Gog-Magog War that seems to be coming soon?

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rickc34
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:33pm
Well how is that Arab Spring working out? Not so good. some peaceful religion.

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Beachmastermax
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:10pm
During the Arab Spring there was a poll taken…Egyptians were asked, “Do you think someone who leaves Islam shuld be executed?” 82% said “yes”. Sorry, Egyptians have no concept of freedom.

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jessieH
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:10pm
Don’t feel to bad, we have the same problem with a dictator in this country, too.

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thegreatcarnac
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:10pm
A second American Revolution is not out of the picture at all. It is inevitable unless obama backs down and curbs his marxist takeover-philosophy. Some liberal camps may want it because they think they will unleash the army and finally kill or quell the patriots. They will be surprised. The army may be against the patriots but freedom alwalys prevails. Patriots must think and act like Afghans and others, Guerilla war would have to be a way of life for them forever until the constitution prevails.

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- Netsurfer2
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 11:41pm
  What American’s fail to see is that our President will do it in such a way that literally renders us powerless, by systematically increasing the debt while spending into oblivion with an increase of government and it’s tightening controls (environmentalism)!
  
  Picture in another four years over 20 trillion in debt and any one of those countries acting up against us! Not like we will be able to fund any war nor do anything, especially when your weapons stockpile and capabilities will be even far less! Not only that, food prices and the cost of living will make sure of that!
  
  Report this comment
truemedia
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:01pm
The Silence from the Obama Admin is DEAFENING in NOT denouncing Morsi POWER GRAB!!!!

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Gary_K
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:01pm
More Lybia news…

http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/is-this-scandal-really-just-fox-news-hype/

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MatrixRedPill
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:55pm
So glad to see the brave real freedom loving Egyptians are standing-up to Morsi. They have guts.

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Apple Bite
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:45pm
Ah, the Arab Spring again. How proud the Liberals must be of their brainchild….turning other people’s lives into total chaos.

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- Remember_Benghazi
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:01pm
  Would you rather they still be under the iron hand of a dictator? We don’t help free a people from a dictator so we can then dictate to them how that democracy should work. If we do that, then it isn’t a democracy.
  
  The people of that country need to understand for themselves what democracy is. We can’t force it onto them. There needs to be this trial and error period. Just look at the beginnings of our country. At first, only white, male landowners could vote and be a part of government. The voting rights have extended to all citizens over a period of 200+ years. We didn’t start out as some perfect representative republic.
  
  The fact that people are protesting against authoritarianism and theocracy is a great indication that people there want to be free from oppression. And here you are trying to score cheap political points against liberals. I applaud these Egyptians and wish them only the best in freeing themselves from religious fascism.
  
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starman70
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:41pm
Congratulations ald plaudits to the courageous people in Egypt who realize that Morsi and the Moslem Brotherhood represent exactly the same thing they had before, just under a different face and banner. I wonder how the Moslem in chief sees this? Will he continue to “Support Democracy” and back those who protest the new dictatorship or will he continue to back Morsi’s regiem? Now, the time has come for Obama to show his true colors. Either back Democracy or Dictatorship.

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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:20pm
  Crickets, so far.
  
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adeleeeee
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:40pm
Islam is a demonic inspired religious. I just read through Koran and they do promise unlimited sex of martyrdom. Their paradise is a giant brothel with houri. Hadith talks about it is good to interrupted coitus with your female captive. It is ok to steal to plunder to rape to do anything as long as the other individual is not a male Muslim. It is all written in Koran and we call they holy? That is a book with filthy mind of Mohammad and Satan. Unfortunately, westerners do realize it. Wake up before it is too late!

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sizzlinsexybeckster
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:36pm
This article is really bad but really good. It’s so great to see people take a stand for what they believe in… however, of course, so sad to see your own leader wanting to destroy the country in which they all share and live in together. Glad these people are awake and hope they keep it up. Instead of the left taking 100 years to try to take over the world and put forth laws that nobody wants – why the heck didn’t they just (and I already know the answer…) sit at a table and actually speak – you know – TO EACH OTHER? (laughing, what the heck!) All sorts of things could have been solved over 100 years ago instead of all this drama and crap filled with selfishness of the desires to rule the world on your own terms… IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU! We live in a world with billions of people and not all of them are dumb. Some people need help and could benefit from living in a commune – others don’t need it. There are so many better ways to organize the world and you people’s backwards governments could use loads of advice and of course a huge smacking of the behind. Piven is not a good Granny substitute. Morsi needs to go on a fishing trip with God and a big bowl of spaghetti to keep his mouth shut. And Obama has always lacked proper advice and direction. I feel like I’m these people’s Mother have have to set them straight myself. Obama, come over my house and tell me your full outlook. I’ll give you the best advice. Bring cookies.

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SilentReader
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:31pm
These are the guys we should be backing.

Instead, as is usual with the America Left, we’re on the wrong side.Yet again! Obama et al are siding with the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists-in-suits who spawned the al Qaeda and the Hamas terrorists, and countless other terror groups around the world. And they’re arming them to boot.

When is this Congress going to do anything about the fact that we’re arming the vile Islamist enemy who is seeking to overthrow our American government and replace it will a Caliphate and replace the US Constitution with brutal Sharia? When?

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- oldguy49
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:39pm
  hear hear…….lock and load
  
  Report this comment
- MrObvious
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:48pm
  When Republicans stop nominating moderates to run for president.
  
  Report this comment
- Chet Hempstead
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 2:50am
  These are the same people who threw out the last dictator, and many of them are the same people who elected the current government. We’ll be on their side if it starts to look like they might win, just like last time.
  
  Report this comment
- Troll Patrol
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 8:24pm
  @ Chet Hempstead
  
  Troll Patrol is advising readers to ignore you!
  
  Troll: one who posts a deliberately provocative, false or misleading comment with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.
  
  Tempus fugit.
  
  Report this comment
possom
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:28pm
Molitov cocktail’s for everybody! LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!!!

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HOOT_OWL
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:27pm
I bet the Kenyan is so proud of their democracy in action.

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michael7695
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:20pm
Would “I told you so” make any difference?

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- liltexasgal
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 4:07am
  Won’t make any difference to the Progressives who helped create this mess. They’ll just find a way to blame it on Bush.
  
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Chromo200
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:20pm
This will end up with bombings and killings. Also the US Embassy will be attacked again. and Susan Rice will blame the republicans for being obstructionist and anti-muslim causing this mess.

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CrazyChicken
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:17pm
I hope the Communist in Chief is watching because if he tried that here there would be a million people with guns in Washington DC. I am tired of the BS, let’s get this fight on now!

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- Chet Hempstead
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 2:53am
  Sorry, the President is not going to turn into the dictator that you imagine him to be just to reassure you that your hatred for him has some rational basis.
  
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- CrazyChicken
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 3:06pm
  Hey Chet, you Troll, if you haven’t noticed, he already is a dictator. You people are zombies!
  
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barber2
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:16pm
This seems a ” tad ” different than the American Revolution. Can you tell in what ways ?

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historyguy48
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:16pm
He moved to fast to consolidate his power and it may not work out well for him. Like America a lot will depend upon which group the military supports.

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Wolfgang the Gray
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:11pm
I wonder if anything like this will happen here when BHO’s followers finally wake up to what his real plan is for the country?

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- barber2
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:21pm
  I think the Obama crowd is only hoping for a revolution to ” fundamentally change ” America . Why do you suppose then encouraged the OWS crowds to OCCUPY Democrat controlled cities ? Why do they continue to trash the ” rich ” as evil ? This is NOT rocket science, Pretty ” transparent ” to anyone with a shred of common sense and a knowledge of history….chaos is loose and the Obama New Far Left Democrats are its ring masters….
  
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- Individualism
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 9:36am
  I think Obamney voters are fine with Obama even though they won’t admit it otherwise they would be out there like these people doing what there doing.
  
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