http://english.aljazeera.net/ Thousands of Egyptians have gathered for prayers for what has been billed as a "victory march" through Cairo's Tahrir Square to mark the overthrow of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak a week ago. The groups that sparked the 18-day revolt that led to Mubarak's downfall are calling the day the "Friday of Victory and Continuation,'' a name that reflects both their pride in forcing a change in national leadership and their worries about the future. They planned to flood the centre of Cairo wearing white, while Mubarak supporters said they would march in black to "apologise" for his ousting and honour his achievements.
The aim of the pro-democracy march was to keep the upbeat spirit of
the earlier protests alive, and some flag-draped protesters in Cairo
clapped or played musical instruments as they waited for the prayers to
begin. Pressure remains on the interim military government, however, from the leaders of the protests who want political prisoners freed, emergency rule lifted, and fair elections soon.
Hundreds of people went missing during the protests, rights groups said, blaming the army which they also accused of torture. Amnesty International (AI), the UK-based human-rights watchdog, called on the Egyptian military to halt the use of torture against detainees, saying it had fresh evidence of abuse. Both AI and the New York-based Human Rights Watch said they interviewed former detainees who described being tortured by the military. On Thursday, the US promised on an immediate $150m to help pay for the transition period, and the military also made a move to satisfy some of the people's demands, ordering the arrest of the former Interior Minister Habib el-Adli and two other ex-ministers, plus a prominent businessman. All are suspected of wasting public funds. Since Mubarak's fall, Egyptian workers have tested the limits of
their new-found freedom, staging pay strikes despite calls from the
governing military council for them to return to work and warning of
"disastrous" consequences should Workers are calling for the resignation of the leaders of state-controlled trade unions and company board members, who they accuse of corruption, as well as for higher wages and better working conditions. |