Millions of Egyptians Demand Morsi’s Downfall
Demonstrations against President Mohammed Morsi appear larger and more widespread than those that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
CAIRO, Egypt — June 30 proved to be very different from January 2011, which was made to look like a minor protest in comparison. Tens of thousands of protesters spent the night in the epicenter of Egypt’s uprising, Tahrir Square, which by noon couldn’t take any more protesters, as dozens of marches kicked off from almost every neighborhood in Cairo. Until nightfall, masses continued to march to the presidential palace, everyone demanded President Mohammed Morsi’s downfall.
Chants condemning, mocking and harshly insulting Morsi and his organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, echoed across every major street in Cairo as the city was paralyzed by the marching masses. The thunderous mantra, “The people demand the regime’s downfall,” was the only scene reminiscent of the 18-day January 2011 uprising that toppled Egypt’s three-decade dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.
In January 2011, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians held their ground in Tahrir Square until Mubarak resigned, but on June 30, significantly bigger crowds continued to occupy the square and hundreds of thousands occupied the streets surrounding the eastern Cairo presidential palace, a much anticipated scenario that forced Morsi to attend to his duties from the al-Quba Presidential Palace, a few miles away from where he usually appears.
Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt’s 2005 joint Nobel Peace Prize winner and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, along with Munir Abdel Nour, the prominent Wafd Party figure and former minister of tourism, and Ahmed Said, head of the popular Free Egyptians Party, led tens of thousands of protesters who gathered and marched from Giza’s Mohandessin district to Tahrir Square.
