On its ninth anniversary ... Does the Egyptian regime fear the return of the January revolution?

Abdul Rahman Mohammed - Al Jazeera Net

The regime was keen, through its official platforms, to ignore mentioning the revolution and invoking it, to the point of declaring that public and private sector workers are granted official leave on this day as a police holiday, without mentioning the revolution recognized in the Egyptian constitution in an attempt to establish its transcendence.

But this official disregard has not succeeded in covering the security forces ’“ alert ”actions that precede the anniversary, through reinforcements in the vicinity of the major squares in the governorates, especially in Cairo, and fixed and mobile inspection ambushes that appeared strikingly in the streets leading to Tahrir Square, the kiss of the revolutionaries in January.

As usual every year, arrests intensified during the past days to cover various youth sectors, the most prominent of which were groups belonging to the Al Ahly fan club (Ultras Ahlawy) and Zamalek club (White Knights), and another belonging to the "April 6" movement, in addition to the re-arrest of a number of those previously arrested and arrested Others on random search campaigns.

Perhaps one of the distinguishing features of this anniversary from its predecessors is that it comes after nearly a hundred days of last September's demonstrations that contractor and artist Mohamed Ali called to demand the departure of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and created unprecedented momentum and witnessed the arrest of hundreds of participants.

Ali’s repeated call for him to come out and demonstrate against Sisi on the anniversary of the revolution to exacerbate the crisis of the regime - according to observers - who seeks in various ways to prevent the situation from exploding and out of his control, due to the deterioration of living conditions and the increasing state of discontent and frustration in the Egyptian street because of this.

Motivate and mobilize
The stimulus that the regime is striving to conceal this year has been revealed by sources within the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior, confirming the existence of a state of maximum alert in all sectors, the cancellation of vacations, and the redistribution associated with an emergency plan that is only evoked when fearing a widespread security chaos.

Extending the state of emergency three months before its end two weeks ago, creating work and repair work in a number of fields of the Egyptian governorates a few days before the anniversary, and closing axes and roads leading to the Tahrir Square, in addition to closing cafes frequented by intellectuals and activists in the field of the field; all of this in turn showed an aspect of this Stimulation.

These measures are seen by the head of the political bureau of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council, Amr Adel, as part of the work of the security services that they undertake when lifting the situation, foremost of which is the arrest of pre-prepared lists.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, he did not find this surprising before any occasion similar to the anniversary of the January revolution, since "authoritarian regimes that realize that they rule against the will of the majority of the people have no means but oppression to continue their control and not to deviate from its framework."

Hence, Adel goes to the fact that these measures reflect a systematic and stable methodology of the regime, rather than evidence of his fear that the revolution will flare up again, and it is considered in this context that the random calls for the movement are in the end in favor of the system, as the revolution loses a number of cadres and youth who They rush behind these calls.

While the head of the International Academy for Studies and Development, Mamdouh Al-Munir, believes that "dictatorial regimes, such as the Egyptian regime, only know the security language in dealing with the people," as he put it, they do not understand others.

Circle of fear
In his conversation with Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Munir considers that fear is present at such times, because the system lives in a "closed circle", where he fears any movement that might turn into a snowball that may lead to the matter getting out of control, and he is also keen on continuing the state of fear among people Through his proactive actions.

In light of Muhammad Ali’s calls, the regime’s fear doubles exaggeratedly, according to Al-Munir, as it is experiencing a hidden struggle between some of its wings. At this time, Sisi fears that one of these wings will take advantage of any relative mobility to engage in a confrontation with Sisi that he does not expect.

In agreement, Mustafa Azab, the Egyptian file official at the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Britain, considers that the pre-emptive repression of the anniversary of the revolution comes in the context of an approach taken by a police regime that does not have a vision to contain the masses, and therefore resort to the path that led him to rule, which is repression and arrest.

As my rights, Azab stresses in his talk to Al-Jazeera Net that the arbitrary detentions practiced by the regime cannot be legitimized under any justification, and that civil society should continue to expose the regime’s violations to Egyptian and international public opinion, stressing in this context that restoring detention is one of the worst practices of the regime .

Egyptian human rights believe that it is difficult to avoid the effects of the regime's behavior at this stage, especially in light of the collapse of the Egyptian judicial system, which cannot be relied upon to avoid renewed arbitrary detention.

The director of Peace International for the Protection of Human Rights, Alaa Abdel Monsef, also finds that these measures have become our threat to the regime during the last stage, and reflect an ongoing situation, although in fact it targets the January revolution and related matters.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, he notes in this context that the symbols of the existing regime in Egypt and its supporters, between them and the January revolution, are "a personal vendetta since the military coup", and therefore this preemptive strategy will continue as long as it relies on protection from countries that have interests in continuing the situation on As it is.