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Downtown Cairo was cordoned off by police on Friday (September 27th) to prevent anti-Sisi demonstrations. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP

Anti-Sisi demonstrations of limited scale, as well as pro-power rallies, were held this Friday, September 27 in Egypt.

Egypt's exiled businessman Mohamed Aly has called for a "march of a million" this Friday across the country against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the army he accuses of corruption. It was a question of transforming the test of the unpublished gatherings of the past week, during which hundreds of people had come down to the street with cries of "Sissi dégage".

► See also: The Egyptian President and the army targeted by videos accusing them of corruption

Just back from the UN General Assembly, the Egyptian president said there was " no reason to worry " about these calls to protest. In fact, Friday's protests were only sporadic, with tens to thousands of people, according to witnesses. Tear gas was fired in at least one Cairo neighborhood. Meanwhile, about a thousand protesters marched in support of the president in Cairo.

It is true that the measures taken by the Egyptian authorities in recent days were discouraging opponents of the ruling power. In Cairo, the city center was cordoned off and squared by the police. Tahrir Square, place of all disputes since the revolution of 2011, has been closed to traffic.

In addition, between 1,000 and 2,000 people, according to sources, were arrested following protests last week. These are young protesters, but also figures of the liberal opposition that is trying to exist in Egypt, despite the repression that characterizes the power of President Sissi, reelected last year.

In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on the Egyptian authorities to " radically change " the approach to the demonstrations, calling for the " immediate " release of those detained for exercising their rights. right to protest. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, a senior US official said Washington supports " the right to associate and the right to protest peacefully ."

During his meeting with Donald Trump Monday in New York, President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi had received strong support from his American counterpart. " He's a real leader. He did absolutely amazing things in a very short time. When he came to power, not so long ago, it was chaos. And this is no longer the case now, "assured Donald Trump, who said then not to be" at all worried "by the demonstrations in Egypt.