On the eve of Friday demonstrations in Egypt .. Instructions to close cafes and shops transporting goods to stores

Abdullah Hamed-Cairo

The security tension is witnessing in the Egyptian streets hours before the start of the expected protests called by the actor and the contractor Mohamed Ali, demanding President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to leave or be isolated by the army.

A number of coffee shop owners in downtown Cairo, especially near the big 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 big squares. As a contractor with the army for years before turning to broadcast videos accusing Sisi and his wife and some army leaders of corruption and waste of public money.

Lawyers and journalists 'syndicates, whose headquarters are located in central Cairo near Tahrir Square, said the two government-backed syndicates' councils had ordered the closure of the union's buildings on Friday.

Journalists' Syndicate President Diaa Rashwan, who also heads the State Information Service, added that he had ordered the construction of cranes, scaffolding, construction tools and paint at the entrance of the union to prevent demonstrators from using the union's ladder to protest against it, according to journalists who demanded that the union's headquarters be opened for emergency and follow-up committees in Cairo.

Arrests

The number of people arrested in connection with the protests last Friday and throughout the past week, nearly two thousand, most of them young, according to human rights sources, and human rights activist Doaa Mustafa said that she attended the investigation of about 25 boys detained under 18 years, in dire condition as a result of very poor detention conditions.

Lawyers defending the Friday detainees were surprised by the presence of detainees who are supporters of Sisi, whose pages are full of defending Sisi and calling for no demonstrations against him, including the journalist at the official Akhbar al-Youm Foundation Nasser Abdel-Hafiz, who has been detained for several days.

Mobile checkpoints were deployed on the roads, security men were deployed at metro stations to check public transport passengers, especially youths, and arrests of suspects, and a steady, mobile security presence spread all over Cairo, represented by soldiers' carriers and police patrol vehicles.

Fears and shortcomings

On the other hand, supermarket staff reported that they had been instructed to move electrical appliances and precious goods to warehouses in areas far from potential demonstrations.

They fear a repeat of the January 2011 uprising of looting of supermarkets that hampered police withdrawal from streets and squares in what was called “Friday of Anger” on 28 November.

There are public outlets selling foodstuffs belonging to the army and police, where workers have expressed fears of being looted during tomorrow's demonstrations, stressing that they have not received any instructions to evacuate the materials contained in them, perhaps confident in securing them adequately, they said.

Internal statement
An official statement issued by the Interior Ministry called on citizens to abide by public order and law. The Interior Ministry said in a brief statement that it would stand up to any attempt to destabilize social peace firmly.

The Egyptians are preparing to go out in mass demonstrations on Friday to demand the departure of Sisi, and urged the actor and contractor Mohamed Ali citizens of his country to go out tomorrow in all provinces, calling on security men and the army to avoid confronting the people.

The leaflets of demonstrators were calling for the call to consider junior officers and recruits as brothers suffering from the same suffering of Egyptians.