Friday demonstrations in Egypt .. The street is ready and the regime mobilizes and warns and Washington is watching

There is little security tension in the Egyptian streets, hours before the expected protests called by actor and contractor Mohamed Ali, calling for President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to leave or be isolated by the army.

Sources told Al Jazeera that security reinforcements are reaching Tahrir Square in Cairo on the eve of upcoming demonstrations to demand the departure of Sisi, while the Attorney General issued a warning statement.

A number of coffee shop owners in downtown Cairo, especially near large squares, apologized to their customers for the closure on Friday. Staff at the cafes cited security instructions not to open them or face complete closure and imprisonment.

According to eyewitnesses, security forces in civilian clothes were deployed in cafes near the major squares. He worked as a contractor with the army for years, before turning to broadcasting videos accusing Sisi, his wife and some army commanders of corruption and wasting public money.

Mobile checkpoints were deployed on the roads, and security men were deployed at metro stations to search public transport passengers, especially young people, and arrest suspects. There has also been a steady, mobile security presence spread throughout Cairo, represented by carriers of soldiers and police patrol vehicles.

According to human rights sources, the number of people arrested in connection with the protests last Friday and over the past week, about two thousand people, mostly young people. Doaa Mustafa, a human rights activist, said she attended the interrogation of about 25 young men under 18, who are in a dire state as a result of poor detention conditions.

The Attorney General warns
On the other hand, a statement to the Egyptian Attorney General said that the investigations revealed the involvement of organized groups in the development of a scheme aimed at spreading chaos by calling for demonstrations and delinquency to violence and sabotage.

He added that some of the defendants confessed to demonstrating because of poor economic conditions, and some admitted to deceiving them by pages on social networking sites, while others attributed their participation in the demonstrations to their opposition to the existing regime.

The Egyptian Attorney-General's statement said that extensive investigations were conducted into the incidents of incitement to the demonstrations, including a number of not more than a thousand defendants in the presence of their lawyers. The statement added that foreigners were arrested in the vicinity of the demonstrations in Cairo, including a Palestinian and a Dutch.

The Public Prosecution requested those wishing to demonstrate to take legal action by notifying the concerned authorities and limiting the number of participants.

An official statement issued by the Ministry of Interior called on citizens to abide by public order and the law, and said it would address any attempt to destabilize social peace firmly and resolutely.

Washington is watching
Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker expressed Washington's support for the Egyptian people's right to demonstrate.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said Congress was monitoring developments in Egypt and the outcome of calls for demonstrations.

Murphy added that President Trump's policies are disastrous on issues related to democracy around the world, and he has enabled authoritarian regimes led by the Egyptian President.