Thursday’s papers are full of ominous reports about the upcoming Friday protest in Tahrir. “The most dangerous million man march goes to the square tomorrow,” reads the headline of the privately owned Al-Shorouk, predicting the square will see an influx of Muslim Brotherhood members and Salafis.
Some remain skeptical that Islamists can peacefully protest alongside their secular counterparts, despite an agreement the two sides reportedly reached this week to unite behind common demands.
Also present on Friday – dubbed the “Friday of Popular Will” – will be members of Jama’a al-Islamiya, a more radical Islamist group whose members promised that there would be no confrontations during the demonstration, the privately owned Al-Dostour reported. The group reportedly rejected a request from Interior Minister Mansour al-Essawy to delay the Friday protest under the pretext that it was gathering its members from all over the country. Postponing the protest would therefore be too difficult from a logistical perspective.
Opposition paper Al-Wafd ran the headline “Fears of a war in Tahrir and expectation that martial law will be announced.” The paper writes that it is obvious to all that Egypt is going through a period of extreme tension and division because of accusations and counter-accusations of treason. It also predicts the protest will be an indicator of the direction in which the revolution is headed.
Al-Wafd reports that Salafis have allied themselves with protesters already in Tahrir to protect them from Jama’a al-Islamiya. However, in rather contradictory fashion, it also reports that Salafis have united against liberals, leftists and secularists.
State-owned Al-Ahram takes a calmer approach to its protest coverage, outlining the eight demands that have been agreed on by the various political forces: speeding up the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak, limiting the powers of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), granting the cabinet full power to eradicate government corruption, delivering on promises regarding those suspected of killing protesters, investigating snipers allegedly employed by the Interior Ministry to shoot protesters, setting a clear timetable for elections, ending military trials of civilians and compensating those injured during the revolution.
Both Al-Ahram and state-run Al-Akhbar report the arrest of Suez businessman Ibrahim Farag and his son Adel Farag, who are accused of killing 18 protesters and injuring 120 others on 28 January. Farag and his three sons allegedly opened fire on protesters from atop their car sale agency in Suez.
What neither reports were the claims of victims’ families that police forces were also shooting protesters from the roof that day. However, Al-Ahram writes that some policemen were hiding on the premises at the time of the shootings.
Al-Ahram also reports that the new National Security Agency branch in Suez that replaced State Security played a role in arresting Farag and his son in coordination with Suez police, even though “it was mandated with handling terrorism cases only.”
The other prevalent story of the day is coverage of comments by SCAF head Field Marshall Hussain Tantawi during his visit to the military training exercise “Badr 11.” Tantawi warned of “external movements” that are supporting domestic groups to harm Egypt’s national security. He stopped short of calling them traitors, preferring to say they did not understand that their actions harm Egypt.
Al-Ahram also quotes Tantawi as saying Egyptians support the armed forces 100 percent. Al-Shorouk reported Tantawi as saying 99 percent of Egyptians are behind the military.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
