About 200 members of the pro-democracy Kefaya movement rallied in front of the Court of Cassation yesterday, marking the fifth anniversary of the movement’s first demonstration. Protestors hoisted banners with anti-succession slogans.
Abdel Halim Qandil, Kefaya’s general coordinator, laid out his "plan for the coming period," suggesting a "general assembly for the Egyptian people" to be composed of 500 public figures who will select the next president.
The crowd chanted slogans supporting former International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei’s candidacy, hailing his "nationalist stance." Poet Youssef Abdel Raman el-Qaradawy, who had created a Facebook group supporting ElBaradei, delivered an anti-regime poem. He also thanked ElBaradei for abstaining from running for presidency in light of the current system. Moreover, he lauded ElBaradei’s call for constitutional reform and expressed his readiness to form a united front for that purpose.
A number of Kefaya leaders who have been absent from the group’s events joined the rally, including Bahaa Shaaban, Abdel Gelil Mustafa, and Huda Hegazy, the wife of a deceased Kefaya leader Abdel Wahab el-Messiry.
"The seriousness of the upcoming stage prompted the group to rally together and take to the streets again", said Shaaban.
Qandil said that that the march is a message to those who claimed that the group has vanished, promising that they will stick to their struggle against succession and the transfer of power.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
