In exchange for food and money .. So "the Sisi regime demonstrated against the Egyptian people"

Abdullah Hamed-Cairo

It seems that the phrase "regime demonstrating against the people" will be the most expressive of the Egyptian regime's mobilization of citizens to support President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, coinciding with calls to demonstrate on Friday to demand his resignation or isolation, launched by actor and contractor Mohamed Ali under the title "Friday of salvation."

For the past two weeks, police have been active in arrests of political opponents, activists and journalists from homes and from the streets, forcing many to stay out of their homes and be wary of street traffic.

On Friday, public panic increased in homes, streets and squares, with the exception of the only place where people were safe from fear and hunger. It was Al-Minsa area in Nasr City (east of Cairo), where protesters were carried by land with huge buses of companies, institutions and parties, protected by police, as well as dozens of people. Soldiers in civilian clothes.

Entering the place requires only showing the flag of Egypt and wearing sunglasses that hide a side of the face, and with it disappear the feelings of the owner, which can lead him behind the prison bars.

Dozens of huge buses carrying thousands of flag-bearing citizens, led by one or more people chanting Sisi, poured into the area within two hours after Friday prayers amid cars carrying loudspeakers shouting enthusiastic songs.

Intimidation and carrot

All of them were not supporters of Sisi in their souls, but went out of intimidation or carrots, some of them admitted to Al Jazeera Net, and some of them almost escaped gestures and sarcastic expressions of what is happening, make it a lesson for those who beg himself to depart from the goal of the demonstration.

According to workers at public companies who were picked up by buses to the podium area after Friday prayers, there was a grumbling about the level of lunch distributed to them.

Some were angry at the disparity of the amounts provided, with some getting 200 pounds for coming, while others got half that amount (about 16.5 dollars).

Buses belonging to government departments such as electricity, water, the Suez Canal, oil and transport, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports were seen.

The Al-Jazeera Net got testimonies from workers activists a few days ago that companies and institutions intend to grant their employees additional leave in return for going to the platform demonstration.

Buses with plates indicating their regional affiliations, mostly from the provinces, were also seen, as confirmed by the accents of a number of speakers to the local media.

The categories of participants ranged from uniformed youth, whose identities could not be identified and whether they were conscripts or company workers, as well as elderly, women and others who appeared to be craftsmen.

There was occasional warning to demonstrators carried overland about the presence of architects of the "enemies of the homeland", and the youth category remained questioned by those leading the organization groups who wore uniforms, who went beyond the role of warning to the role of Maestro, who leads and organizes the chants.

There seemed to be coordination between these groups, where the area of ​​the podium remains shouting all the time, as well as organizing the crowds and preparing them for filming in front of satellite channels.

Alongside these, there were groups passing through the waqfs to distribute the flags to them, and those holding one flag would be given another to wave the flags together.

In the governorate of Giza, businessman Mohamed Abu El-Enein - through his charity - mobilized dozens of citizens in buses, gathered at the headquarters of his association to the tunes of songs glorifying Sisi.

They carried buses belonging to parties close to power, such as the Future of Homeland party.

In the past two days, the Future of Watan party has distributed food packages to areas where there were heated demonstrations last week, including Suez governorate (east of Cairo).

Manual system vulnerability

Activists criticized the scenes of food distribution to the poor to urge them to participate in the demonstrations of support, considering it a sign of weakness of the regime, in light of the suppression and siege of the demonstration areas against Sisi.

They considered that the manufacture of pro-demonstrations will not last long, in the presence of continuous fuel for opponents of Sisi, which is their economic troubles and their opposition to his policies.

Activists also saw this artificial scene as a provocation to ordinary people, who felt that the extravagant spending to stabilize Sisi's rule by such demonstrations and by the Youth Congress; was first to improve the condition of poor patients, feel that all these wasted amounts of money should have Benefit directly.

They said that comparing scenes of Sisi 's public mandate after the summer 2013 coup with these meager scenes reveal the extent to which Sisi' s popularity has deteriorated to the point where workers and the poor bargain for support for food and money.

Strength and endorsement

On the other hand, local media considered that this scene is a powerful guide to the regime, stressing that these demonstrators suffered the hardships of travel and the costs of moving from the provinces to support the president against foreign conspiracies.

Parliamentary, media and artistic figures called for the rally, while actor Mohamed Ramadan gave concerts, which were criticized by activists for the deaths and injuries of the army in the Sinai a few hours before the ceremony.

The podium area is gaining prominence from one of Egypt's bloodiest incidents, the assassination of late President Anwar Sadat while attending a military parade marking the anniversary of the October 6, 1973 war, the 45th anniversary of which is to be remembered.