The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) announced on Thursday that its forces would not be taking part in securing Friday’s protests, dubbed “The Second Revolution of Anger”.
Activists and political movements called for the Friday protest to demand a speedy trial for ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the involvement of civilians in the country’s political decision-making process during the transitional period.
The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups, however, announced they would be boycotting the protests, saying they were not in the interests of the people and were aimed at driving a wedge between the armed forces and the people.
In a statement on its page on global social networking site Facebook, the SCAF warned Egyptians of "the possibility that suspicious elements will try to carry out acts designed to drive a wedge between the Egyptian people and its armed forces."
Since March, several Tahrir Square protests have been marred by clashes. The revolutionaries blamed these clashes on elements of the counter-revolution, saying they were thugs loyal to the remnants of the defunct National Democratic Party, which ruled the country during the Mubarak era.
In the statement, the SCAF also noted that the armed forces would not to be present in the area of the protests in order to avoid the risk of any attempts to drive a wedge between the armed forces and the people. It said the role of the armed forces would be limited to securing major locations against security threats.
The Muslim Brotherhood announced on Wednesday that it would organize a number of demonstrations against the Friday protest in Alexandria. Meanwhile, a number of Salafi groups said they considered the people organizing the protest to be "infidels and atheists".
Translated from the Arabic Edition
